Category: Dramas

Classic Films · Dramas

Only Angels Have Wings

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Image credit: Only Angles Have Wings, 1939

Those who follow the Cinema Sips Instagram account know I love spending Friday night with a cocktail, a pizza, and movie from my Uncle Len’s Criterion Closet. Several weeks ago, I posted about watching Only Angels Have Wings (Disc/Download) and was overwhelmed by the response I received from fans. After getting over my grievance that so many of y’all were holding out on me with your recommendation, I decided the best gift I could give to lovers of this Howard Hawks classic was a cocktail pairing.

Starring Cary Grant as the owner of an air mail service in the fictional South American port town of Barranca, Only Angels Have Wings is kind of like the TV show Wings, except you never really know if the pilots are coming back for episode 2.  The geography in this part of the world makes flying difficult, and planes are forced to travel blindly through thick banks of fog. Jean Arthur arrives on a banana boat (literally, a boat carrying bananas, not the bouncy, inflatable water activity for drunk spring breakers), and after charming a couple of the American pilots, this sunshine meets her grumpy match in the form of Cary Grant’s weathered airman Geoff. He’s got no time for flirting, and no interest in forming attachments when life is so precarious. Just ask his ex, played by a young Rita Hayworth. Of course Jean wears him down, and one bullet wound later, he’s ready to risk something even scarier than a dangerous flight: his heart.

The tropical setting of this movie lends itself nicely to a tiki-inspired cocktail, and lucky for us, Don the Beachcomber came up with an appropriately named one just a couple years after the film was made. While watching Only Angels Have Wings, I recommend drinking a Test Pilot.

Test Pilot

1 ½ oz Dark Rum

¾ oz Light Rum

½ oz Cointreau

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Falernum

1 dash Angostura Bitters

6 drops Pernod

Maraschino cherry (garnish)

Combine ingredients in a blender with a cup of ice. Blend for about five seconds, until the ice is crushed but not liquefied. Pour into rocks glass, add more crushed ice if needed, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Director Howard Hawks does a terrific job with the aerial sequences in this movie, but it’s the horrific bird strike that really had me on the edge of my seat. It’s easy to see why Only Angels Have Wings is so popular among classic film fans because not only is it great to look at, but it maintains a high level of suspense throughout. My friends in cinema, if you wanted me to fall in love with this movie, all you had to do was ask. Cheers!

Dramas

Reds

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Image credit: Reds, 1981

While working my way through Warren Beatty’s directorial filmography over the past year, one final film remained my personal Everest. Blame it on the absurdly long run time, blame it on a bad trip with Doctor Zhivago several years ago, but whatever the reason, Reds (Disc/Download) always seemed like a steep hill to climb. However, current events have finally inspired me to strap on my boots and hit play. Verdict: now is the perfect time to dive into a movie about political activism, revolutions, and why men can’t be trusted to run anything.

Starring Beatty as journalist John Reed, and Diane Keaton as his love interest and fellow writer/activist Louise Bryant, Reds is a sweeping epic about the rise and fall of the Communist movement on both the American and international stages. I won’t get into the nitty gritty of the Socialist Party, the I.W.W, or the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 because there’s just too much to wade through. What I do want to concentrate on are the relationships between the main characters and the fantastic performance by Keaton. She gives many of the film’s best speeches, particularly one in which she decries the toxic, doomed relationship between religion and politics. Her romance with Reed seems heavily founded on shared ideals rather than shared emotions, which explains why she’s able to have an affair with Eugene O’Neill (played wonderfully by Jack Nicholson). We may be expected to root for Beatty and Keaton, but in my opinion, it’s Nicholson and Keaton who have the real chemistry. Leave it to Nancy Meyers to recreate their white linen beach stroll in Something’s Gotta Give twenty years later; after all, she knows what women want.

When John Reed travels to Russia, he’s advised to try an appetizer of salted lemon. It sounds gross (particularly when paired with a raw onion!), but if he’d listened, we might have been spared the scene of Beatty’s scurvy-ridden gums. I’m not taking any chances this winter. While watching Reds, I recommend drinking a Dirty Lemon Martini.

Dirty Lemon Martini

2 oz Vodka

1 oz Dry Vermouth

1/4 oz Preserved Lemon Brine

Preserved Lemon slice (garnish)

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Stir to chill, then strain into a glass. Garnish with a small sliver of preserved lemon.

Reds would have made a great limited series, and in fact I ended up splitting the movie into two nights of viewing. I complain frequently about bloated run times, but the truth is, you can’t tell the story of the Russian Revolution in two hours. I don’t even think you can tell it in three, though Warren certainly tries. Even though the events depicted here took place a century ago, that’s really not so long when you stop to think about it. Looking around at the anger, anxiety, and pessimism that I and so many others are feeling, it seems like no time has passed at all.

Dramas

City of Angels

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Image credit: City of Angels, 1998

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: an angel in a trench coat falls for a human, then gives up eternity to be with her. This week, we’re talking remakes, Goo Goo Dolls, and pears with the Nicolas Cage/Meg Ryan romance flick, City of Angels (Disc/Download).

If you like your movies more dialogue and plot-heavy, less philosophical, then you may prefer City of Angels to its German ancestor Wings of Desire. Instead of flashback scenes of the Holocaust, we get panoramic views of the Hollywood sign and Malibu. Humans are still a mess, but they’re a mess in a “first world problem” kind of way. I’m happy to report that angels still hang out in libraries, and Dennis Franz does a great job picking up where fellow TV-cop Peter Falk left off as the wisecracking former angel Mr. Messinger (THAT NAME, lol). When Cage’s Seth meets Ryan’s Maggie, it’s in a Meet Joe Black-capacity, as he escorts the newest member of the afterlife to his next stop. As Seth and Dr. Maggie lock eyes over the heart attack patient she’s trying to revive, something shifts, and for the first time, this angel starts to want something. There are many cringe-inducing moments along the way (Seth hovering in a corner looking like he’s being stabbed in the gut while Maggie “relaxes” in her bathtub, being one), but for me, the romance still works. I want him to throw himself off a building to be with her, and I want her to be the one to bandage him up.

Pears play a pivotal role in this film, which is surprising for such an under-hyped fruit. Not nearly as sexy as the peach (what is it with Nicolas Cage movies and fruit??), it’s still kind of a turn on when Meg Ryan describes it as “sugary sand that dissolves in your mouth.” While watching City of Angels, I recommend drinking a Divine Pear Martini.

Divine Pear Martini

2 oz Grey Goose La Poire Vodka

¾ oz St. Germain

¾ oz Lemon Juice

2 oz Champagne

Fresh pear slices (garnish)

Combine vodka, St. Germain, and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with champagne, and garnish with pear slices.

I may not have held onto my VHS copy of this film, but I definitely still have the soundtrack. It’s endured multiple media purges thanks to “Iris” by The Goo-Goo Dolls, “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited”. This late-’90s mix is the perfect way to unwind after a tough day spent wondering if anything is within our control; if free will still exists, or if we’re all just puppets on a string. I’m more pessimistic than ever about these existential uncertainties, but I do feel pretty positive about my answer to Seth’s other question. When the guy in the trench coat asks what my favorite thing about being human is, the response will be automatic: movies. Cheers!

Dramas

Memento

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Image credit: Memento, 2000

I don’t often think about how memory impacts my movie consumption, but this week’s pick Memento (Disc/Download) has brought it to the forefront of my mind. A film I saw twice in the theater during its initial release, but never again in all the years after, I thought I remembered its twists and turns. I thought I remembered the ending. I thought I knew who the good and bad guys were, but I was totally wrong. Turns out, when it comes to this movie, I have amnesia.

Christopher Nolan’s breakthrough film about a vengeful man who has lost his short-term memory asks a lot of its audience. It assumes we’re able to follow as the story is told out of sequence: backward in the color scenes, forward in the black & white scenes, with tattoos and injuries appearing in reverse, their causes unknown. If you make it through with even a vague understanding of the plot, then you might feel pretty smart. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much as a teen and still do now: Memento issues a challenge, and I enjoy being challenged. Technically a neo-noir, the film follows Guy Pearce’s Leonard as he searches for the man he thinks raped and murdered his wife. Characters come into his life (Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano), and you’re never sure if they’re heroes or villains. Ultimately, the whole world seems to be taking advantage of Leonard’s condition, even Leonard himself. There are things he doesn’t want to remember, and it’s easier to move forward if everything beyond the previous five minutes is a black hole.

The story takes place where most of the great noirs have thrived, in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles. Lenny’s world is one of cheap motels, dive bars, and abandoned buildings, with keys to rooms and cars he doesn’t remember. Maybe you’ve had a night of heavy drinking where things got fuzzy after a certain point, or maybe you’re looking for one today. While watching Memento, I recommend drinking this Memory Loss cocktail.

Memory Loss

2 oz Rye

½ oz Fernet Branca

½ oz Bénédictine

1 barspoon Maraschino Liqueur

Orange Bitters

Dried Orange Slice

Combine rye, Fernet Branca, Bénédictine, Maraschino Liqueur, and bitters in a shaker with ice. Stir to chill, then strain into a glass filled with one large ice cube. Garnish with a dried orange slice.

Nolan would go on to have the kind of career most filmmakers dream of, delivering hit after hit both critically and commercially. He’s often played with our perception of reality and time, in films like The Prestige, Interstellar, Inception, etc., and in some ways, Memento seems like the forgotten film of his oeuvre . It’s gotten overshadowed, fading from our memories like one of Leonard’s Polaroids shot in reverse. Personally, I may have forgotten the plot, but I’ve never forgotten the unsettled way it makes me feel. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

The Man Who Knew Too Much

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956

I don’t know about you, but I’m in dire need of a good Day. Doris Day, that is. When anxiety, hopelessness, rage, and disappointment threaten to overtake me, it always helps to watch a star who faced tremendous struggles onscreen and off. One who came through these battles with her grace, dignity, and empathy intact. It seems fitting then, that Doris Day’s iconic song from The Man Who Knew Too Much (Disc/Download) would feel tailored to this most uncertain of times we’re living in: “Que sera, sera; whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see; que sera, sera.”

The fact that Alfred Hitchcock made a perfectly great version of The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1934, then decided to do it again in 1956 is a pretty wild concept. Nevertheless, if he had to fulfill a studio obligation for one more picture, I’m glad he decided to dust this story off because 1950s Man has a lot more heart and emotional depth. Much of that comes from Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart, who have always felt like America’s parents. If you happened to be kidnapped by terrorists, you could feel confident they would be clever and determined enough to rescue you. Doris gets a lot more material to work with than Edna Best did in the original, and it’s to her credit the stakes feel so much higher. Seeing her devolve into hysterics when she realizes her son is missing, then watching her steely resolve take over when she faces an incompetent police force is a wonderful arc. In the end, it’s Doris who saves the day, because terrorism is no match for a woman with a strong, powerful voice.

When The Man Who Knew Too Much opens, Jimmy, Doris, and their little boy are on a bus to Marrakesh. There are some great scenes filmed in a Moroccan bazaar (in fact, Doris insisted on better care for the background animals, refusing to shoot until every camel, horse, stray dog, and cat had food and water), before the plot takes them all to London. Doris and Jimmy end up throwing an impromptu party in their hotel room, and one wonders just how many gin & tonics their friends put back while waiting on these two to foil an international assassination plot and find their son. This time of year, I love the flavor of cardamom in my drinks, so I’ll be infusing some Old Tom gin with a handful of cardamom pods. Leave it to soak overnight, then strain the pods out. While watching The Man Who Knew Too Much, I recommend drinking this Ambrose Chapel Gin & Tonic.

Ambrose Chapel Gin & Tonic

2 oz Cardamom-infused Old Tom Gin

5 oz Indian tonic water

Orange wheel (dried)

Star Anise

Build drink over ice, and garnish with a dried orange wheel and star anise.

It’s ironic that Doris hated the song “Que Sera, Sera” when she first heard it, thinking it too cutesy and saccharine, because even by her own account, she lived her life by its lyrics. She didn’t know what the future held, but she never lost faith in herself. Her world wasn’t rainbows day after day, and she couldn’t have known prior to each marriage how the men in her life would let her down. But after every disappointment, betrayal, and setback, she got up, dusted herself off, and put one foot in front of the other. Her voice was her gift, and for the rest of her life, she used it to help the people and causes that mattered to her. Just as I’ll try my best to do now, one Day at a time. Cheers!

Dramas

Apartment 7A

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Image credit: Apartment 7A, 2024

Spooky season is upon us, which is probably great news for some, and terrible news for those of us who don’t enjoy feeling afraid. For one month a year, I am forced to go outside my comfort zone and try new (read: scarier) types of movies. Sometimes, as in the case of Rosemary’s Baby, it works out. I don’t watch this classic and lay awake thinking about how the Satanists are coming to kill me; I lay awake thinking about Rosemary’s cute dresses. When I heard there was a new prequel to this beloved film, I was intrigued. Would it be scarier than the original? Would it be as stylish? After watching Apartment 7A (Disc/Download), I’m happy to report all the elements I loved about the first one survived the dreaded Hollywood IP churn. This movie is good.

Shocking absolutely no one, a gorgeous psychological thriller directed by a woman and featuring beautiful sets and costumes got a straight-to-streaming release on Paramount+. Why? Because Hollywood execs still don’t understand what female viewers want. In Apartment 7A, Julia Garner plays injured Broadway dancer Terry Gionoffrio, and trust me when I say if you were impressed by the 1960s-era production design of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you will be impressed by Apartment 7A. Lots of wild costumes, sets that evoke a Powell & Pressburger dream sequence, and even a rousing climax set to the music of The Ronettes. Hell, even Satan is bedazzled! Jim Sturgess fills in for John Cassavetes, playing a sleazy Broadway producer instead of a sleazy husband, and Dianne Wiest does her own spin on the role made so famous by Ruth Gordon. But really, it’s Garner who steals the show. She creates a unique character, totally separate from Rosemary, who seamlessly inserts herself into this world we already know so well. Yes, there are Tannis Root and Vodka Blush winks scattered throughout, but this story stands on its own. Where fractured ideas of motherhood and domesticity were the driving force behind the original, here it’s professional ambition. What would you give up to have the career that makes you feel most alive? Can women ever really “have it all”?

As mentioned, the Vodka Blush makes a resurgence here, and you can find the recipe for that in my original Rosemary’s Baby post. However, we also get a new cocktail introduced in Jim Sturgess’s fabulous mid-century modern apartment, the classic Old Fashioned. I’m making a syrup with fresh ginger root (not Tannis root) to give this one a little kick, because sadly, his Old Fashioned also has quite the kick. While watching Apartment 7A, I recommend drinking a Ginger Old Fashioned.

Ginger Old Fashioned

For syrup:

1 cup Sugar

½ cup Water

¼ cup peeled, chopped Ginger

To make the syrup, combine sugar, water, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for approximately 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it steep for about 20 minutes. Strain out solids and let the syrup cool.

For cocktail:

2 oz Bourbon

¼ oz prepared Ginger Syrup

3 dashes Ginger Bitters

Orange peel

Pinch edible glitter

Dehydrated citrus ring

To make the cocktail, place a large ice cube or sphere in a rocks glass. In a separate mixing glass, add the ginger syrup, bourbon, ginger bitters, pinch of edible glitter, and fresh ice. Stir to combine and chill. Strain into the prepared rocks glass, and express the oil of an orange peel over the glass. Garnish with dehydrated citrus.

I suppose one good thing about Apartment 7A going straight to streaming is that I can immediately watch it at home with the perfect cocktail, and consequently share it with my readers. If you’re wondering why there’s glitter in my drink, it’s because this particular incarnation of Satan is so sparkly. A bold choice, but I love it! Stylish outfits, stylish apartments, and cocktail parties of the occult—this is the kind of horror I can get behind. Cheers!

Dramas

The English Patient

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: The English Patient, 1996

It may have been a Seinfeld punchline, but after watching all traces of passion slowly fade from movies over the last twenty years, the BIG ROMANCE of The English Patient (Disc/Download) is no laughing matter to me. This is what I want from Hollywood. This is what I’m not getting from Hollywood. Bathtubs and candlelight, frescoes and caves. Enough drama to rival a soap opera.

Directed by Anthony Minghella, this lengthy WWII epic slots nicely into my favorite film genre: “Beautiful People in Beautiful Places”. Ralph Fiennes plays a brooding cartographer exploring the Saharan desert, who meets the great love of his life (Kristin Scott Thomas) while searching for an ancient cave. Unfortunately, she’s already married to Colin Firth, but it doesn’t stop them from starting a torrid affair. Things take a bad turn when war breaks out, and the desert suddenly becomes crowded with Nazis. Without spoiling too much, Fiennes ends up badly burned when his biplane is shot down over the desert, and he spends most of the movie bedridden, scarred, and recounting his tale to a kindhearted French-Canadian nurse (Juliette Binoche). The movie does a great job of balancing flashbacks and present-day, and while it’s too long for my liking at nearly three hours, the individual scenes never drag. These are actors are the top of their game, and Minghella showcases them in stunning light.

Although champagne is on the menu in many scenes, I prefer to mix up something that’s a little more refreshing for those sand-filled days and nights. I found a version of this cocktail in a delightful book gifted to me by Karie Bible of The Hollywood Kitchen (Hollywood Cocktails by Michael O’Mara Books), and it’s a fitting choice when you’re watching a wounded man get strapped to a camel. While watching The English Patient, I recommend drinking a Desert Healer.

Desert Healer

1 oz Dry Gin

1/2 oz Cherry Heering

2 oz Orange Juice

5 oz Ginger Beer

Orange wheel (garnish)

Combine first three ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a tumbler filled with fresh ice. Top with Ginger Beer, and garnish with an orange wheel.

Hollywood lost a tremendous talent when Anthony Minghella passed away in 2008, and I sometimes wonder what kinds of movies he’d be making today, had he lived longer. I assume they’d be wonderful character-driven stories about people in bygone eras, but maybe he’d have found a way to make our current world beautiful too. Like Ralph Fiennes’ character, I yearn for a time when someone’s ability to find passion in the world around them mattered more than their name. Or, how many tickets executives thought they could sell. Cheers!

Dramas

There Will Be Blood

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: There Will Be Blood, 2007

There are some movies, no matter how many times I try to watch them, and how many people encourage me to “give it another chance,” I will never enjoy watching. Apocalypse Now is one, Down With Love is another. Before this week, I would have put There Will Be Blood (Disc/Download) on that list. That’s how much I disliked it the first time around. Seventeen years later (eight of them spent watching a self-serving, spray-tanned false prophet rise to political power), and I’m ready to revise my opinion. Turns out, There Will Be Blood is a great movie.

I can’t even explain how much of a relief it is to feel this way. For years, I’ve had to qualify my adoration of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies with, “They’re all perfect! Well… except for There Will Be Blood.” At long last, there is no caveat; I finally “get” this movie. Maybe I had to fall in love with Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock: fussy couturier of The Phantom Thread before I could love him as Daniel Plainview: prospector, oilman, and all-around greedy sonofabitch. Whatever the reason, I simply can’t get enough of his performance. The voice, the movements, the intensity; I’m all in. I particularly love the moment when Daniel realizes his nemesis, small-town preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), is just as much of an opportunist and performance artist as he is. In the span of a few seconds, you see his expression change from one of boredom, to skepticism, to recognition. There can be only one liar-in-chief on these oil fields, and it’s almost inevitable that the other one is drained dry before he even knows what happened.

Speaking of draining, most people are familiar with the famous line, “I drink your milkshake!!!”, spoken to illustrate the point that the land below an untapped oil field has already been drained. You could certainly mix up a boozy milkshake for this movie, but I prefer to make a drink that speaks to a rough, bloody life on the California oil fields at the turn of the 20th century. I use Liber & Co.’s Blood Orange Cordial in so many cocktails, and it’s perfectly on-theme here. While watching There Will Be Blood, I recommend drinking a Blood Sacrifice.

Blood Sacrifice

2 oz Bourbon

1 oz Lemon Juice

½ oz Blood Orange Cordial

¼ oz Apricot Liqueur

¼ oz Cinnamon Syrup

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to combine and chill, then strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a dried citrus wheel.

My only lingering complaint with There Will Be Blood is the lack of female characters, especially because Anderson has an incredible skill for writing complex women into his films. However, in viewing this movie through the lens of the last eight years, it’s easy to understand why. Any woman in Daniel Plainview’s life would be a mere accessory. He’s not capable of thinking about women as actual human beings; he’d only turn some lucky lady into a show piece or pawn, allowing her no agency of her own. Frankly, I’d rather watch no woman than that woman. But to sum it up, if There Will Be Blood was low on your Paul Thomas Anderson list before today, I urge you to give it another chance. I’m certainly glad I did. Cheers!

Dramas

Thelma & Louise

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Thelma & Louise, 1991

Put two women in a Thunderbird convertible, add a gun, a bottle of Wild Turkey, plus a young Brad Pitt, and you’ve officially got one hell of a road trip. Thelma & Louise (Disc/Download) is a flick that only gets better with age (and by that, I mean my age), and better still with a cocktail!

Starring Susan Sarandon as uptight waitress Louise, and Geena Davis as beaten-down housewife Thelma, Ridley Scott’s road trip classic begins by showing us two women in desperate need of a vacation. It’s kind of sad that their lifeline is a fishing trip in Arkansas, but the joy on their faces as Louise peels away in that vintage convertible shows that sometimes it doesn’t matter what the destination is; all that matters is the going. Unfortunately, things take a dangerous turn in a roadhouse parking lot, and suddenly Thelma and Louise are on the lam. Their list of felonies grows, as does the frizz on their windblown hair, and by the end, you don’t see how they’re going to get out of this. But somehow, they manage to keep going, and their joy and love for one another remains frozen in time. One perfect moment in a soaring Thunderbird convertible.

Speaking of Thunderbird, my cocktail is inspired both by Louise’s penchant for margaritas, as well as that extremely sexy car she drives. By swapping out the rum for tequila in a Jungle Bird, you can make a tasty, on-theme beverage. While watching Thelma & Louise, I recommend drinking a Thunderbird Margarita.

Thunderbird Margarita

1 ½ oz Reposado Tequila

1 oz Campari

1 ½ oz Pineapple Juice

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Simple Syrup

Lime wheel (garnish)

Combine tequila, Campari, pineapple juice, lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Thelma & Louise was Brad Pitt’s big break, and lordy what a Hollywood entrance he made. He is 100% movie star from the first moment he struts onscreen in a cowboy hat and tight jeans. By the end of the movie, I’m really glad Thelma has one night of bliss with this handsome grifter, if only so her awful husband could find out about it.  Revenge is the real happiness at the end of this long road. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Double Indemnity

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: Double Indemnity, 1944

When someone says the term “Film Noir” Double Indemnity (Disc/Download) is the first movie that comes to mind. Although there are so many other notable films in the genre, Billy Wilder’s classic about a scheming wife and the insurance salesman she ensnares to do her bidding will always be my primary touchstone for moody lighting, complicated female characters, and sweeping musical scores.

Double Indemnity recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, and quite frankly, I was shocked to find I hadn’t covered it yet on Cinema Sips. I love this movie! Barbara Stanwyk is unbelievably sexy, Fred MacMurray is sleazy as hell, and the script is tighter than an assassin’s arms around a throat. My only excuse is that it’s not an overt “cocktail” movie. There’s no signature drink (like a bourbon on the rocks, or a Tom Collins) our characters order in some dimly lit bar while hatching their plan. Instead, these scumbags like to meet in broad daylight at the grocery store! The lack of alcohol is surprising, just like the climax that manages to shock me even after multiple watches. But that’s Billy Wilder for you- always swimming against the current.

As mentioned, Double Indemnity has a definite dearth of booze. Really, the only memorable beverage scene is where Fred MacMurray drinks Stanwyk’s iced tea, then follows it with a beer, “…to get rid of the sour taste of her iced tea and everything that went with it.” What a line!!!! This got me intrigued about a sour iced tea cocktail, and if you’re a fan of Arnold Palmers, you’ll want to give this a shot. While watching Double Indemnity, I recommend drinking an Iced Tea Sour.

Iced Tea Sour

2 oz Bourbon

1 oz Black Tea simple syrup

1 oz Lemon Juice

To make simple syrup, bring 1/4 cup water to a boil, then drop in a tea bag to steep. Once tea has steeped, add 1/4 cup sugar and return to heat. Simmer and stir until sugar has dissolved. Allow mixture to cool. Combine cooled syrup with bourbon and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a tumbler filled with one large ice cube or ball. Garnish with a lemon twist.

MacMurray would go on to play yet another sleaze in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, and in some ways I consider Double Indemnity to be a prequel to that film. The offices of the Pacific All-Risk insurance company look an awful lot like C.C. Baxter’s Consolidated Life Insurance offices, and both films force the audience to think about the value of a human life, as well as the consequences of a dangerous affair. My advice: start with the bleak world of Double Indemnity, then let laughter put the crumbled cookies back together in The Apartment. Cheers!