Category: Dramas

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!

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

LizLockeLeave a comment
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.

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!

Dramas

Hope Floats

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Image credit: Hope Floats, 1998

Here in Central Texas, the bluebonnets are blooming, the weather is perfect, and the music is live. Seems like a great time to watch the Smithville, TX-set Hope Floats (Disc/Download) because the only thing missing from this picture is Harry Connick Jr. two-steppin’ in a cowboy hat.

Jilted on national television, forced to move back into her childhood home with her angry, precocious daughter in tow, Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) is realizing too late that she may have peaked in high school. Back then, she was Queen of Corn, perched on a parade float and cheering at the high school football games for her future ex-husband. Now, she’s a single mom with no job prospects, facing a town full of people who either pity or hate her. Luckily, Birdee still has a great mother (Gena Rowlands) to help her through this rough patch by fixing her up with the local hot handyman/secretly-very-gifted home builder (Connick Jr.). If you miss the romance films of the ‘90s that featured grown adults and quirky townsfolk, then this is the film for you. Truly, it doesn’t get quirkier than a house full of taxidermy animals in doll clothes. My kingdom for a “scaredy-cat”!!!

Although this week’s cocktail was intended for the golf course, if I’m honest, I’m probably never going to be writing about Tin Cup or The Legend of Bagger Vance. Sorry, to all the movie-loving golfers out there; maybe there’s still hope for Caddyshack. While watching Hope Floats, I recommend drinking this Birdie cocktail.

Birdie

2 oz Gold Rum

½ oz Cointreau

½ oz Pineapple Juice

½ oz Simple Syrup

½ oz Orange Juice

½ oz Lime Juice

Fresh Mint

Muddle a few mint leaves in the bottom of a shaker with lime juice. Add the other ingredients, plus ice, and shake until chilled. Strain into a martini glass, and garnish with more fresh mint and a lime twist.

As saccharine as this movie can be at times, I still love the line, “Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most.” When it comes to publishing, I’ve had some endings in the past year, I’m currently in the scary beginning stages of something new, and also right in the middle of a long-gestating project. But that’s life, right? Things don’t always happen in the manner or order you thought they would, and we just have to keep hoping it’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to. Cheers!

Dramas

Love & Basketball

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: Love & Basketball, 2000

When I watch a movie with ‘love’ in the title, I always hope it’s going to trigger the same kind of feeling I get from reading romance novels. When a story works, every part of me is rooting for these characters I know intimately, even though we only just met. I think about them the next day, and I wonder if they’re still off living their happily-ever-after’s. Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball (Disc/Download) has all the hallmarks of my favorite sports romance novels, but it’s a story that truly comes alive on the screen. If you’re looking for a great Valentine’s Day pick, make some time for Monica and Quincy this year.

Starring Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps as neighbors, friends, lovers, exes, and potentially lovers again, Love & Basketball gets its title from the movie’s signature quote, “All’s fair in love and basketball.” Both characters dream of becoming star athletes, but along the way their slow-burn romance starts to heat up. The audience knows they’re better when they’re together (on the court and off), but of course there would be no movie if the characters knew it too. We follow them from childhood into adulthood, and it’s a romantic journey that feels honest. Neither of these characters is perfect on their own, but the great thing about romance is that it has the power to turn people into the best versions of themselves. Monica and Quincy challenge each other, and that’s why you know they’re meant to be together. They are soulmates who can survive anything—injury, infidelity, distance… even cringe-worthy nineties fashions.

Post-college, Monica lands a spot on an international women’s basketball team based in Barcelona. While Quincy is never far from her thoughts, I imagine she was able to enjoy some of the perks of her foreign city, namely sangria! I’ve never done a rosé sangria on the blog before, so now seems like a great time. While watching Love & Basketball, I recommend drinking a Sparkling Rosé Sangria.

Sparkling Rosé Sangria

½ bottle dry Rosé Wine

½ bottle dry Sparkling Rosé Wine

1 ½ oz Brandy

½ oz Cointreau

Fresh Raspberries

4-5 slices Blood Orange

4-5 slices Cara Cara Orange

Combine Rosé, Brandy, Cointreau, raspberries, and orange slices in a small pitcher. Chill for two hours in the refrigerator. Top with Sparkling Rosé, then pour into ice-filled glasses.

If you enjoy Love & Basketball as much as I do, then I’d highly recommend the Hoops book series by Kennedy Ryan. It’s sad to me that more love stories like this never make it onto the big screen, so I’m even more grateful this one did. And thanks to the tireless preservation and curation work of The Criterion, we can keep watching Monica and Quincy find their way back to each other again and again. Cheers!

Dramas

The Phantom Thread

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Image credit: The Phantom Thread, 2017

“A house that doesn’t change is a dead house.” What a quote to send us into the new year! Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Phantom Thread (Disc/Download) has a lot to say on the subject of death, but it has just as much to say about life. About finding the muse that makes you move forward. In Reynolds Woodcock’s case, it was a person and an unending yearning for perfection. In my case, it might just be this movie.

The Phantom Thread is one of those films that feels fresh and new each time you watch it. Like an evening gown from the House of Woodcock, there are so many layers that it’s impossible to see them all at once. Initially, the viewer is dazzled by the costumes and sweeping score by Jonny Greenwood, which sounds like something out of a Hitchcock film. Maybe you’re also a little turned on by Daniel Day-Lewis ordering breakfast (I know I was!). But then on the next viewing, you start to notice the subtleties in the performances. How one look or turn of phrase can convey so many emotions. Maybe you start to see it as a romance between two impossible people who could only ever love each other. But then on the next viewing, you start to see it as a ghost story. There’s a reverence for the dead, and a comfort from thinking that some of them are still sticking around. Eventually the dresses start to play second fiddle to the women in them, which perhaps was always the point of haute couture: to bring out the best in the person wearing it.

The change that hits the House of Woodcock comes in the form of Alma, a lovely but somewhat invisible waitress. Reynolds transforms her into his muse, and under his gaze we see her confidence grow. As his bitchy sister Cyril says with an assessing sniff, Alma smells of rosewater, sandalwood, lemons, and sherry. A couple of those ingredients found their way into my cocktail this week, and it all came together into a hue that matches Alma’s first Woodcock creation! While you’re watching The Phantom Thread, I recommend drinking this Rosewater ’75.

Rosewater ’75

1 1/2 oz Pink Gin

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Blood Orange Cordial Syrup

3-4 drops Rosewater

Prosecco to top

Combine gin, lemon juice, blood orange syrup, and rosewater in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with Prosecco.

This is a great movie to watch on New Year’s, not just for the lively 1950s NYE party, but because it inspires us to evolve. I honestly don’t know how to categorize it (gothic romance, period melodrama, dark comedy?), but I do know that I’m excited to watch it again. Same time, next year. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Black Narcissus

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Image credit: Black Narcissus, 1947

If you like your nuns with a side of murderous melodrama, then strap in for the Technicolor fantasy of Black Narcissus (Disc/Download). A movie brought to my attention by Jenny Hammerton of Silver Screen Suppers, this was my first introduction into the world of Powell & Pressburger. After sinking into their completely immersive setting of a 1940s Himalayan monastery, consider me hooked.

Starring Deborah Kerr as the leader of a group of nuns tasked with setting up a convent on a remote mountaintop, Black Narcissus feels at times like a science fiction film (sample tagline: Trapped in isolation, the inhabitants of a spaceship go a little mad…). Maybe there’s a mysterious illness slowly claiming the lives of the these inhabitants, or maybe it’s all in their heads. Swap in wimples for spacesuits, and you’ve got the general vibe of Black Narcissus. These women are lonely, and it doesn’t help that there’s a handsome caretaker (David Farrar) coming around in his short-shorts to flirt and rile them up. He makes the nuns remember what their lives were like before joining the order, and eventually it all becomes too much for Sister Ruth, played marvelously by Kathleen Byron. Ditching her dreary robes for a smart new dress and dark red lipstick, she is your worst nightmare—a woman pushed to the brink, with nothing to lose.

Because color is such an important element to the production design of this movie, it seems fitting to drink one of the most colorful gins on the market, Empress 1908. The nuns make a big show of dropping a purple powder into some water in an effort to wow the locals at the new infirmary (I’m still not sure what the powder was—quinine?), but you can do the same at home with either your Empress Gin, or a pinch of Butterfly Pea Powder. This is definitely a floral-inspired cocktail because on this depressing mountaintop, we need flowers more than food. While watching Black Narcissus, I recommend drinking a Floral Gin & Tonic.

Floral Gin & Tonic

2 oz Empress 1908 Gin (OR 2 oz London Dry Gin w/ ¼ Teaspoon Butterfly Pea Powder)

4 oz Elderflower Tonic

Dried lime and flower garnish

Build drink over ice, stirring slowly to combine (if using the powder, stir a little more to fully mix). Garnish with a dried lime + flowers.

Floral G&T with Empress 1908 Gin
Floral G&T with London Dry Gin + Butterfly Pea Powder

I’m thrilled to be collaborating this week with Jenny Hammerton over at Silver Screen Suppers because she actually puts together a full meal for her pairings! If you want to craft your own dinner party for Black Narcissus, be sure to subscribe to the Dinner and a Movie Substack and come prepared with an appetite, plus your moodiest purple gin. Cheers!

Dramas

Don’t Look Now

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Don’t Look Now, 1973

I thought I was through with being scared by Nicolas Roeg after watching Anjelica Huston peel her face off in The Witches, but it turns out, there was one more bit of nightmare fodder waiting for me. Don’t Look Now (Disc/Download) is a gorgeous, moody thriller based on the story by Daphne du Maurier, and perfect for those times when you want a dash of sexy sophistication with your horror.

Although I love the Venice of David Lean’s Summertime, Roeg’s Venice in Don’t Look Now feels much more authentic to the Venice I’ve personally encountered. This is a decaying city, full of narrow dark alleys, crumbling mosaics, and murky water. It’s also the perfect place to stage a horror film because one never knows what’s hiding in the shadows, or what you’ll find around the next corner. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are fantastic together, playing a married couple still grieving the death of their young daughter, living in Venice while Sutherland works to restore a church. During a lunch break, they encounter a blind clairvoyant who informs them their dead daughter’s spirit is still with them. Also… danger is imminent. Roeg plays with time in a really interesting way, flashing backwards and forwards to knock the viewer off balance. You aren’t really sure where you are until the thrilling climax makes everything clear. In one second, this ghost story becomes something much more sinister.

Don’t Look Now is filled with flashes of red, usually in the form of a little girl’s raincoat. Let’s make an appropriately macabre Italian cocktail with a splash of Campari and a few grapefruit bitters. While watching Don’t Look Now, I recommend drinking this Death in Venice cocktail.

Death in Venice

½ oz Campari

3-4 dashes Grapefruit Bitters

5 oz Prosecco

Pour Campari and grapefruit bitters into a chilled flute and top with Prosecco.

This film caused a lot of controversy at the time of its release because of its very “aerobic” sex scene, a scene I actually thought was well-constructed. Roeg cuts back and forth from wild passion to the mundane task of getting dressed for a night on the town, from biting and clawing to putting on socks. This scene represents a lot of what I like about this movie—it mixes the terror of death with the everyday business of living. Maybe that makes it even scarier, for that flash of red can appear on even the most ordinary of days. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

The Misfits

LizLocke2 Comments
Image Credit: The Misfits, 1961

They had me at Thelma Ritter. I knew going into The Misfits (Disc/Download) that it would be the most depressing corner of Reno Divorce Month, but I pushed through for Thelma. A pure delight in every picture she graced, this character actress could make even the most difficult watch something to look forward to. She was the shining star who guided us home.

John Huston’s film about the decaying mythology of the west is a tough but important film. It was the last one for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, and knowing this fact makes every scene seem like a race against the clock. Those mythological creatures, the biggest box office stars of their day, just… gone. The sixties ushered in a period of revolution in cinema, where “dream factories” shuttered their doors and an actor or actress was only as popular as their last role. But then there was Thelma, like a bridge between worlds. She could exist in movies like All About Eve as well as Technicolor confections like Pillow Talk and A New Kind of Love without missing a beat. It made sense that she would be cast in the role of Isabelle Steers, the owner of a Reno boardinghouse, because Thelma was an actress who rolled with the times. Her character was there for the quickie marriages and quickie divorces, just as the actress was there for the rise and demise of the Hollywood studio system. A dependable presence in a world of fleeting dreams.

I love the scene where Thelma calls Nevada the “Leave It” state. As in, “Ya got money you want to gamble? Leave it here. You got a wife you want to get rid of? Get rid of her here. Extra Atom bomb you don’t need? Blow it up here. Nobody’s gonna mind in the slightest.” Taking inspiration from this quote, and the scent of sage as she and Marilyn are rolling through the desert, while watching The Misfits, I recommend drinking a “Leaf-it” State.

“Leaf-it” State

2 oz Blood Orange Juice

2-3 Fresh Sage Leaves

2 oz Bourbon

¾ oz Lime Juice

¾ oz Simple Syrup

1 Egg White

Muddle sage leaves with lime juice and simple syrup in a shaker. Add bourbon, blood orange juice, and egg white. Dry shake (without ice) for 30 seconds. Add ice to the shaker, and shake again until well-chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a sage leaf.

“Leaf-It” State

I can’t let this post go by without mentioning Eli Wallach, my favorite scroodily-doo, who is equal parts sweet and horrible in this movie. Out of the three men Marilyn accompanies on a mustang-hunting expedition, he’s the one I kind of want to rope up and leave in the desert by the end. Montgomery Clift, I just want to hug, and Clark—well, I guess I’d want to ask why his character was sweet on Marilyn when Thelma was there the whole time. Cheers!