Because I’m planning a trip back to the City by the Bay next month, I’m deep into a San Francisco movie binge. Nothing is off the table, from JLo rom-coms (The Wedding Planner) to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry (a movie I shockingly LOVED). However, there’s one classic film that absolutely can’t be skipped, even if I might have wanted to: The Maltese Falcon (Disc/Download).

It’s not that I don’t appreciate aspects of this noir. Humphrey Bogart is fantastic as private investigator Sam Spade, in a truly genre-defining performance. The cinematography is stunning, with its chiaroscuro lighting and murky dark alleys. Where I get lost is in the script. Maybe I need to read Dashiell Hammett’s original novel, or maybe I just need to watch this in a theatrical setting with absolutely no distractions. But at a certain point, roughly twenty minutes in, my mind starts to wander, and then boom!

I’m lost.

All it takes is a couple of missed lines for me to wonder who’s double crossing whom, who has the precious falcon statue, what happened to the missing sister, and why the jolly actor from Christmas in Connecticut (Sydney Greenstreet) has two equally offensive character names: Gutman and “Fat Man”. Maybe it makes more sense with a drink? Let’s test the theory.

I thought this film would be a great match for the bottle of Bogart’s gin I picked up last summer, but there’s an unfortunate lack of onscreen martinis. However, there is a scene involving a freighter ship called La Paloma, so I’m going to take that cocktail direction and run with it. Research tells me Sam Spade drank copious amounts of Bacardi rum in Hammett’s novel, so I’m swapping out the traditional tequila base for rum. And since La Paloma goes up in flames, we should probably make that rum extra spicy. While watching The Maltese Falcon, I recommend drinking this Firebird cocktail.

Firebird

2 oz jalapeño-infused rhum agricole (chop a few rings of jalapeño pepper, and soak overnight in the liquor. After infused, remove the solids)

1/2 oz lime juice

3 oz Fever Tree grapefruit soda

Lime wheel and jalapeño ring (garnish)

Fill a tumbler with ice and set aside. Combine infused rhum agricole with lime juice in a shaker with fresh ice. Shake to chill, then strain into prepared glass. Top with grapefruit soda, stir gently, then garnish with a lime wheel and jalapeño ring.

The San Francisco setting goes quite nicely with a film noir aesthetic, so much so that the city becomes like another character. It is as steady and calm as Bogey staring down the barrel of a gun, and you know no matter what happens with the dame or the bird statue, the fog will still roll across the Golden Gate bridge, just as Sam Spade will live to sigh and shake his head once more. Cheers!

Because I’ve spent the last three months immersed in 1950s-60s beach movies, it feels appropriate to end the best summer ever with a spoof of the genre. Psycho Beach Party (Disc/Download) is the perfect transition film for this particular time of year when it’s still hot, but you’re itching to break out the whiskey and horror.

Psycho Beach Party is the brainchild of drag performer Charles Busch, who wrote another favorite of mine, Die, Mommie, Die!. But where that film was a parody of 1950s/60s melodramas, Psycho Beach Party is a parody of 1950s/60s beach romps and B-movie slashers. Instead of Gidget, we have “Chicklet”, perfectly played by Lauren Ambrose. She combines the innocence of Sandra Dee with the unpredictability of Norman Bates, using her off-beat comedy style to portray a surfer girl with multiple personality disorder. Amy Adams also appears in one of her earliest roles as bikini-clad mean girl Marvel Ann, and she’s so committed to her character that I almost didn’t realize this is the same six-time academy award nominee I’m used to seeing on a red carpet. And speaking of bikinis, every outfit is a feast for the eyes—a riot of color and fun patterns that can sometimes make Chicklet go a little bit insane. Who knew polka dots could be deadly?

While the dismembered body parts are piling up, Chicklet is still out there trying to prove she’s old enough and cool enough to surf with the guys and attend Kanaka’s big luau. Let’s mix up one last Tiki beverage for summer, as we say farewell to the rums and coconut, and hello to whiskey and bitters. While watching Psycho Beach Party, I recommend drinking a Surf Liner.

Surf Liner

¾ oz Orgeat

2 oz Rye Whiskey

1 oz Pineapple Juice

¾ oz Lemon Juice

2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Pineapple Leaf (suggested garnish)

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a Tiki mug or glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Garnish with a pineapple leaf.

Although slasher films aren’t in my typical wheelhouse, I’m glad I took a chance on Chicklet and the gang. If you’re the kind of person who likes Scream, but also Beach Blanket Bingo, Psycho Beach Party will become your newest obsession. Cheers!

No matter how old I get (truth: I got a little older today), the history of space travel will always be fascinating to me. The fact that there were people brave enough to strap themselves to a bomb and hope for the best, all in the name of scientific progress and patriotic bragging rights, is truly wild. This week’s film The Right Stuff (Disc/Download) was the first film to ignite my interest in the 1960s Space Race, and I still carry the torch.

At over three hours long, this movie has always felt more like a miniseries than a feature film. It has a mostly “Hey, it’s that guy!” cast, with the exceptions of Ed Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as Gordon Cooper, and a dreamy Sam Shepard as sound barrier-breaker Chuck Yeager. I like that it takes us from the early days of post-WWII test pilots to the original Mercury astronaut program at Cape Canaveral, and finally to the formation of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Apollo 13 picks up where this film leaves off, and that’s as it should be. There’s enough material with the Mercury Seven, and the strange reality show they inhabited, to warrant the narrower focus. The movie may not be 100% historically accurate, but it tells a compelling story of man and country striving for greatness. The word “great” has certainly lost its meaning over the last ten years, but I think pushing against the bounds of technology, science, and even the atmosphere itself qualifies.

I’ve already featured a classic Saturn cocktail on Cinema Sips for the sci-fi fantasy Logan’s Run, however I’ve been wanting to play around with this drink for a while. Though traditionally made with gin, I’m trying it with vodka today, since the Soviet Union played such a pivotal role in nudging our American space program to fruition. Nothing like a little competition between petty bureaucrats to get things done. While watching The Right Stuff, I recommend drinking a Sputnik.

Sputnik

1 ½ oz Vodka

½ oz Lemon Juice

½ oz Passion Fruit Syrup

¼ oz Velvet Falernum

¼ oz Orgeat

1 oz Sparkling Wine

Lemon Twist + Cherry (garnish)

Combine vodka, lemon juice, passion fruit syrup, falernum, and orgeat in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a martini glass. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with lemon twist and cherry.

Although I have mixed feelings about the current space program (I don’t love that we’re sending billionaires and pop stars up there for ten minute larks, and I also don’t love the environmental impacts this has wrought on my state), I do think it’s essential to keep striving for new knowledge. As I conclude this trip around the sun and prepare to start the next one, I can’t help but think of John Glenn orbiting the Earth, eyes full of wonder. I hope this next trip brings a little of that magic and hope back. Cheers!