Tag: Joanne Woodward

Classic Films · Dramas

The Long, Hot Summer

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: The Long, Hot Summer, 1958

I’ve been saving The Long, Hot Summer (Disc/Download) for a week when I absolutely cannot stand the Texas heat another second, and well folks, this is that week. Seasonal affective disorder has set in, and the only cure is Paul Newman’s abs.

Sharing similarities with movies like Picnic and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Long, Hot Summer features Newman in the role of Ben Quick, a falsely accused barn burner and mysterious drifter who lands in a small Mississippi town. He quickly makes an impression on the only daughter of the local bigwig, Clara Varner (played by Newman’s real-life love Joanne Woodward), soon ingratiating himself into her dysfunctional mess of a family. The chemistry between Newman and Woodward is electric, and even when she’s putting on a good show of hating this cocky ne’er-do-well, you can tell she’s also wildly attracted to him. And honestly, who wouldn’t be? The man performs the simple act of eating a watermelon, and I’m a puddle.

In Frenchman’s Bend, Mississippi, people spend most of the day either toiling in the fields or sitting on a veranda with an icy cold beverage in hand. I know where I’d be in this scenario, and I also know what drink I’d be holding. While watching The Long, Hot Summer, get hot and bothered with this Barn Burner cocktail.

Barn Burner

2 oz bourbon

1 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz hot honey syrup (1:1 ratio Mike’s Hot Honey® to water)

4 oz ginger beer

Dried lemon wheel (garnish)

Combine bourbon, lemon juice, and hot honey syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a tumbler filled with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and stir gently to combine. Garnish with a dried lemon wheel.

I normally loathe movies where everyone is sweaty, but when it’s Paul Newman standing shirtless outside the town schoolmarm’s bedroom, complimenting her reading glasses and promising to waltz with her under the moon, I don’t mind it one bit. Joanne was smart to lock that down when she did. Cheers!

Classic Films

A Kiss Before Dying

LizLocke2 Comments
Image: A Kiss Before Dying, 1956

If my beloved A Summer Place had taken a very different turn in the third act, it might have resulted in a version of this week’s Technicolor noir, A Kiss Before Dying (Disc/Download). I’m trading the windswept beaches of Pine Island for the desert vistas of Tucson to see what happens when a girl really gets in “trouble”.

Dropping us right into the melodrama, the film opens with a college student (Robert Wagner) who’s just found out his girlfriend (Joanne Woodward) is pregnant, and he is not happy about it. He promises to marry her, but secretly, he’s also checking out poison books from the library and skulking around the chemistry department. When she refuses to take the poisoned pills he gives her, he lures her to a rooftop on their wedding day. In a flash, the girlfriend goes splat, and the murderer coolly walks away. The rest of the movie is a cat-and-mouse game wherein the girlfriend’s sister starts asking questions, never realizing the man she’s begun dating is the same man who pushed her sister off a roof and made it look like a suicide. Robert Wagner is extremely good at playing a sociopath—someone akin to a charming conman from a Patricia Highsmith novel.  Except he’s no Ripley; the audience feels no sympathy for this guy.

My favorite scene in the movie occurs in the historic Pago Pago Lounge, a Tucson Tiki bar opened in 1947. I’ve seen pictures in various books, but it’s extra exciting to see it in a Hollywood production. I’m not sure what the characters have in their glasses, but I know I’ll be sipping on the bar’s eponymous drink, the Pago Pago Punch.

Pago Pago Punch

2 oz orange juice

1 ½ oz lime juice

1 ½ oz grapefruit juice

1 ½ oz honey syrup (1:1 ratio honey to water)

2 oz dark Jamaican rum

2 dashes angostura bitters

Place all ingredients in a shaker filled with plenty of crushed ice. Shake to chill, then pour entire contents unstrained into a pilsner glass. Garnish with a dried orange and swizzle stick.

Tiki bars are the perfect place to discuss murder because they usually involve dim lighting, soft music, and liquor to loosen your inhibitions. It makes sense they’d pop up in so many film noirs, and it’s always a pleasure to see these architectural touchstones of the Tiki movement come alive onscreen. A Kiss Before Dying invites us to escape into a world where bright Technicolor hides sinister plots, and the only safe place is next to a tropical fish tank, hunched over a cocktail. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

A New Kind of Love

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: A New Kind of Love, 1963

It’s such a delight when, after nearly forty years on this planet, and thousands of movies watched, you find a new-to-you classic that features everything you happen to adore. A New Kind of Love (Disc/Download) was a delightful discovery for me this week, for it contains literally all my favorites: 1960s fashion, gorgeous people jetting off to Europe, copious amounts of alcohol, witty dialogue, and Thelma Ritter.

Starring Paul Newman as a womanizing reporter and Joanne Woodward as a “tomboy” department store buyer who makes her living knocking off the top couturiers, this delightful comedy skewers the business of high fashion while still celebrating its glamour. This movie must have been an absolute ball for costume designer Edith Head, particularly in the scene where designer looks are translated into burlesque costumes. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Paul Newman slowly unraveling a pearl onesie off a stripper. The plot is a little less progressive than I’d like (Woodward feels she has to doll herself up at the Elizabeth Arden salon in order to attract a man, Paul Newman mistakes the “new-and-improved” version for a high-class prostitute, chaos ensues…), but it’s still fun to watch this madly-in-love couple pretend that they’re not madly-in-love for a couple of hours. We know what’s behind all those winks and smirks.

As part of Woodward’s glow-up, she takes part in the St. Catherine’s Day celebration where unwed maidens parade through the streets of Paris. Let’s join in this party (it actually looks like a lot of fun!) with my sparkling version of the classic Maiden’s Prayer cocktail, featuring a splash of pink champagne. Zsa Zsa would approve!

Maiden’s Prayer

1 oz Gin

½ oz Cointreau

½ oz Orange Juice

¼ oz Lemon Juice

2 oz Pink Champagne

Orange Twist

Combine gin, Cointreau, orange, and lemon juices in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with pink champagne, and a twist of orange.

The true MVP of this movie (and pretty much every movie on her resume) is Thelma Ritter. All this woman wants is to eat some onion soup with the boss she’s had a crush on for years, in a dress that doesn’t cut off her oxygen supply. She shouldn’t have to rely on sponge rubber to get the job done—Thelma is fabulous in any city, in any decade, in any outfit. Cheers!