Tag: Peter Bogdanovich

Classic Films · Comedies

Paper Moon

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Paper Moon, 1973

If your summer plans include a road trip on a budget, then I’ve got just the movie for you. Paper Moon (Disc/Download) travels a long, hilarious path through the small towns of the American Midwest, fueled by hot dogs, whiskey, and get-rich-quick schemes. Forget baseball; grifting may as well be the national pastime of the good ole’ US-of-A.

Starring real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon is yet another Peter Bogdanovich classic that wouldn’t be nearly as special without the input of his ex-wife Polly Platt. Thanks to her, we have the precocious, stunningly good Tatum in the role of newly orphaned Addie, and it’s because of her performance the movie succeeds as well as it does. The way this little girl spars with her off-screen (and maybe onscreen??) dad is electric, and it’s a shame only Tatum won the Academy Award for this because Ryan turned in some amazing work too. If you like road movies set in 1930s rural America, such as O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, Sullivan’s Travels, and It Happened One Night, you’ll find a lot to love about Paper Moon. It’s a portrait of Americana, of people doing whatever they had to do to survive, yet not losing their heart along the way. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Addie and Moses Pray (that name!!!) find their hearts, and it’s the big payoff neither of them expected.

Tatum O’Neal’s record of being the youngest competitive Oscar winner in history still stands, and if you haven’t seen pictures of this little girl in a mini tuxedo, I urge you to look it up. It’s even more remarkable that she was only eight years old when the movie began filming, especially considering she’d never acted before. She smokes cigarettes and spars with prostitutes like she’d been doing it her whole life (maybe she had… I still need to read her memoir). Anyway, let’s toast young Tatum with this Prohibition-era cocktail, the Ward 8.

Ward 8

2 oz Rye Whiskey

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed Orange Juice

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed Lemon Juice

2 tsp Grenadine

Maraschino cherries (garnish)

Shake whiskey, orange juice, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice until chilled. Strain into a coupe or Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with cherries.

The production design, locations, and costumes of the film are all stunning, but of course they were with Polly Platt in charge. The movie is timeless because she made it so, placing it in a very specific era and place that would never show its age. To watch Paper Moon is to feel like you’re watching a movie made in the 1930s, when the scripts were sparkling, the stars were dazzling, and the road of cinema seemed to stretch on forever. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

What’s Up, Doc?

LizLockeLeave a comment

 

Whats Up Doc
Image credit: Whats Up Doc?, 1972

The 1970’s were a really unfortunate time for hair. Also luggage. But there was one great thing that set the decade apart from all others- Barbra Streisand. Specifically, young, gamine, fresh-faced Barbra Streisand, before she was Oprah-rich and started cloning her dogs. In this week’s film What’s Up, Doc? (DVD/Download), she’s at the top of her game, but isn’t afraid to pratfall down to the bottom.

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, What’s Up, Doc? pays homage to the great screwball comedies of the 1930’s. Fast dialogue, rapid fire puns, etc.- it’s like Bringing Up 70’s Baby. Four people show up at the same hotel carrying the same ugly suitcase. Naturally the suitcases get mixed up, and chaos ensues. Barbra is radiant as flighty Judy Maxwell, and her zany romance with engaged musicologist (played by Ryan O’Neal), is great fun to watch. The script is still remarkably fresh, and I found myself imagining who’d play these roles in the remake. Dream cast: Ryan Reynolds as Howard Bannister, Aya Cash as Judy Maxwell, and Kate McKinnon as Eunice Burns. Boom.

One of my favorite scenes involves Judy and Howard meeting on an abandoned floor of the hotel.  The stuffy musicologist plays “As Time Goes By” (because every construction site has a spare piano lying around…) and they gaze into each other’s eyes, and…. (insert *sigh* here). This cocktail is as sparkling as the movie dialogue, as sweet as the romance, and naturally, on the rocks. While watching What’s Up, Doc?, I recommend drinking an Elderflower Collins (on the rocks).

Elderflower Collins (on the rocks)

2 oz gin

1 oz St. Germain

1 oz lemon juice

2 oz Lemon Elderflower Soda

2 oz Topo Chico

Fill a highball glass with ice, then build drink, stirring gently to combine. Garnish with a lemon slice.

elderflower fizz

If you’re traveling to San Francisco anytime soon, I’d highly recommend giving this movie a watch. So many great location shots of the city, including some truly epic car chases up and down the hills. Bogdanovich throws every sight and sound gag at us, and luckily, most of them work. In What’s Up, Doc?, anything goes. Cheers!

 

Dramas · Musicals

The Thing Called Love

LizLocke2 Comments

Image Credit: The Thing Called Love, 1993
Image Credit: The Thing Called Love, 1993

Anyone who knows me knows that I am addicted to prime-time television dramas. The O.C., Gossip Girl, Scandal– I’ve watched them all. One of my current guilty pleasures is the show Nashville, which my husband refuses to sit through because in his words, “All the men look the same, and I can’t tell anyone apart.” I have to admit, he’s kinda right; however, I’ll watch Connie Britton in just about anything, so I keep tuning in week after week. Now that the last season is over and my TV has gone dormant for the summer, I’ll have to get my romance and country music fix elsewhere- which brings me to this week’s film The Thing Called Love (DVD/Download). If you haven’t seen it, this Peter Bogdanovich 90’s classic is essentially what Nashville the TV show wishes it could be. No gimmicks, no flashy Christina Aguillera-casting, just good music and hot guys. Hello Music City!

The Thing Called Love follows young singer-songwriter Miranda Presley (no relation) on her journey from New York to Nashville. Between waiting tables at the Bluebird Café, spontaneously marrying bad boy musician James (played by River Phoenix, in his last completed film role) and rooming with a young Sandra Bullock at a disco-themed motel, she learns what it takes to write a great song. The songs for the film were written by stellar real-life country musicians, and actually performed by the actors themselves (a rarity in Hollywood). River Phoenix is so charismatic in his role, and it’s truly heartbreaking to realize this was the last one. Like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause- you watch wondering all the while what might have been.

My sources tell me that one of the essential drinks in Nashville is the Bushwacker. Originally invented in Pensacola, FL, bars of Nashville have somewhat adopted it as their own. This is a great one to sip as the weather heats up, and perfect for the film because you know Linda Lou Linden was downing these every night. Actually, her beauty pageant dress kind of reminds me of this white frothy concoction. While watching The Thing Called Love, I recommend drinking a Bushwacker.

Bushwacker

2 oz Kahlua coffee liqueur

1 oz dark rum

1 oz crème de cacao

4 oz cream of coconut

4 oz half-and-half

2 scoops Vanilla ice cream

Whipped Cream

Maraschino cherry

Pour liquid ingredients into a blender with a cup of crushed ice, and blend until mixed. Pour into a glass, then top with whipped cream and a cherry.

Bushwacker

There are a lot of variations of this drink, so feel free to add in Amaretto, Vodka, and/or Baileys Irish Cream, depending on how boozy you like your beverages (this could turn into the Tennessee version of last week’s Long Island Iced Tea if you really wanted it to). I’ve never actually been to Nashville, but this movie (and this drink!) make me want to go. Don’t worry though, I’d never be drunk enough to shout from rooftops or audition at the Bluebird. The ears of Nashville are safe. Cheers!