Tag: Faye Dunaway

Classic Films · Uncategorized

The Thomas Crown Affair

LizLocke2 Comments
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

Network

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Image credit: Network, 1976

If you live in America, you’re more than likely mad as hell right now. The question is whether you can take it anymore. As the mad prophet of UBS instructs us in this week’s 1976 classic Network (Disc/Download), open the window and scream. Listen to the screams of others.

If I had to pick one word to describe Network, that adjective would be ‘angry’. All the characters are angry about something (ratings, the general state of the world, market shares, etc.), and they do a lot of shouting about it. But the interesting thing is that these characters were angry about many of the same things in 1976 as we are today. News as entertainment is a problem we were warned about forty-six years ago, and now we’re seeing it play out in real time. Unfortunately, we no longer have a Howard Beale (Peter Finch) on the airwaves to get up from behind his desk and shine a spotlight on the corporate greed that fuels the television networks. Now we have something scarier—a whole generation of anchors whose only job is to shock, enrage, inflame, and pretend they’re doing the opposite. Diana Christensen would be so proud.

Veteran newsman Howard Beale and his colleague Max Schumacher (played terrifically by William Holden) start out the movie getting roaring drunk, before becoming passionate critics of a changing industry. For this week’s pairing, I used spicy Habanero peppers to infuse some Añejo tequila, resulting in the angriest of cocktails. While watching Network, I recommend drinking a Mad Prophet.

Mad Prophet

2 oz Habanero-infused Añejo tequila (let tequila soak with peppers for at least 1 hr, then strain pepper out)

1 oz Orange Juice

1 oz Lime Juice

1 oz Passion Fruit Syrup 

Combine tequila, orange juice, lime juice, and passion fruit syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a pepper slice.

Network is a dark satire of television journalism that only gets darker as time drags on, letting us see the effects that pandering to our most racist, sexist, darkest tendencies can have on a group of people. And if that doesn’t make you mad as hell, then you’re not paying attention.

Classic Films

Bonnie and Clyde

LizLocke1 Comment

Bonnie and Clyde
Image credit: Bonnie and Clyde, 1967

Throughout February Cinema Sips will be featuring some of the great couples of movie history.  To kick things off I’ll be starting with a classic.  Though they often ran afoul of the law and experienced a bloody ending to their love story, the legend of Bonnie and Clyde (DVD/Download) is one that will live in infamy. I’m going to pretend that the Hilary Duff remake of this film never happened (*shudder*) and instead concentrate on the Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway masterpiece.

Directed by Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde shares a similar gritty look to his earlier collaboration with Beatty, Splendor in the Grass. The actor is fantastic in both, and as Clyde Barrow he’s equal parts seductive charmer, wholesome Southern boy, and deadly criminal. Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker totally rocks a beret, and she’s a perfect counterpart to Beatty. They may rob banks, but with these two doing it, robbing banks never looked so good.

Because Bonnie and Clyde viewed the laws of our country as mere suggestions, I’m making a classic and appropriately-named cocktail. While watching Bonnie and Clyde, I recommend drinking a Scofflaw.

Scofflaw

2 oz rye whiskey

1 oz dry vermouth

¾ oz lemon juice

¾ oz grenadine

2 dashes orange bitters.

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously until chilled. Strain into a coupe glass.

scofflaw

This film will always be remembered for the violent ending, but it’s also a gorgeous study of the dusty, Depression-era mid-west landscape. Bonnie and Clyde’s band of outlaws are mostly good people who happen to do very bad things, and perhaps that’s why the story is so riveting even today. Even though I know it’s impossible, I still root for Bonnie and Clyde to ride off into the sunset together. And of course, Bonnie would wear a fabulous hat. Cheers!