Tag: Pink Cocktail

Classic Films · Comedies

What a Way to Go!

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Image credit: What a Way to Go!

It’s so comforting when you find an instant-favorite classic film because it proves that no matter how many things you’ve seen, there will always be gems waiting to be discovered. Such was the feeling I got from watching the 1964 Shirley MacLaine dark comedy What a Way to Go! (Disc/Download), a movie that had me asking: where has this been all my life??? If you long to live in a pink world and watch nothing but “Lush Budgett” productions, this is the flick for you.

Starring MacLaine as a widow four-times over, and Dick Van Dyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Kelly as the husbands who find success as well as comically tragic deaths after falling for her, What a Way to Go! is a perfect illustration of the old phrase, “Behind every great man is an even better woman.” All Louisa wants is a simple life in the country with a man who will put their relationship first. Unfortunately, she happens to have great ideas that spur these paupers into action, turning them all into selfish, foolhardy multi-millionaires. Her bank account grows with each reading of the will, until she’s left distraught and alone with nothing but a closet full of Edith Head gowns and a garish pink mansion to keep her company. And by garish, I of course mean ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. The cast is outrageously perfect, from the sweet Van Dyke, to Newman playing a sexy bearded artist, to Mitchum as the charming CEO with a fabulous private jet, to a tap-dancing Gene Kelly. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer collection of male specimens. I hope Shirley had as great a time making this one as I did watching it!

If you want an excuse to drink a pink cocktail, and you’ve seen both Barbie and Barb and Star approximately 1,000,000 times already, then here’s another one to add to the rosé oeuvre. Note: I’m using the seasonal Hendrick’s Flora Adora in this, which has distinct notes of rosewater. If using regular gin and you want that flavor, add a few drops into the shaker. While watching What a Way to Go!, I recommend drinking this Flaming Lips cocktail.

Flaming Lips

1 ½ oz Hendrick’s Flora Adora Gin

1 oz Raspberry Orange (or Blood Orange) juice

½ oz Orange Liqueur

1 oz Lemon Juice

¾ oz Coconut Cream

2 oz Sparkling Rosé

Dried orange slice (garnish)

Combine gin, orange liqueur, orange juice, lemon juice, and coconut cream in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and blended, then double strain into a coupe glass. Top with Sparkling Rosé and garnish with a dried orange slice.

With all this talk of the cast, I haven’t even gotten to the best part of the movie: the costumes. With a budget fit for Hollywood royalty, Ms. Head obviously went nuts. Pink chinchilla coats! Backless dresses! Mod bikinis! Gowns dripping with diamonds! Louisa may have wanted a simple life, but I prefer her nuzzling Robert Mitchum in an oversized champagne coupe wearing nothing but an Elvira wig. This is pure cinema. This is: Lush Budgett. Cheers!

Classic Films · Foreign · Musicals

The Young Girls of Rochefort

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Image credit: The Young Girls of Rochefort, 1967

If you need a little cinema help to fight the grey skies of winter, then you’ll definitely want to check out this week’s pick, the 1967 French musical The Young Girls of Rochefort (Disc/Download). With a color palette straight out of my fantasies (so much pink!!!!!), fun choreography, and even the inclusion of classic Hollywood musical star Gene Kelly, this confection of a movie will have you longing for French fries, cocktails, and candy-colored days in France.

Starring real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as singing twins Delphine and Solange, Jacques Demy’s follow-up to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the perfect antidote to that bittersweet tragedy. These girls are fun, carefree, and want nothing more than to go to Paris, fall in love, and pursue their artistic ambitions. Delphine wants to be a dancer, Solange a composer, and unfortunately Rochefort is just too small of a pond. They can’t spend all their days in caftans, gazing out the windows of their pink apartment, lamenting their boredom.  They’ve got to put on matching hats and dresses and get out into the big, bright world! Luckily, Gene Kelly arrives, ready to make Solange’s dreams come true, while Delphine pines for a painter she’s never actually met. Truthfully, this film is full of near misses, right up to the very end. It keeps me yearning for that happy ending, almost as much as I yearn for their wardrobes. And boy, do I yearn.

One of the highlights of this movie, for me, is the twins’ mother’s French fry stand. It sits in the center of the town square, designed with gorgeous Mid-Century Modern details, and by all appearances seems to serve nothing but French fries, coffee, and cocktails. If someone gave me an unlimited amount of money and told me to go make whatever I wanted in the world, I would build an exact replica of this French fry stand. My city would cheer, and I’d be a hero. Unfortunately, I do not have an unlimited budget, so I’ll have to settle for frozen fries and this Gemini Gimlet in my “nice, but not Young Girls of Rochefort Girls nice” Mid-Century Modern home.

Gemini Gimlet

2 oz Pink Gin

1 oz Elderflower Liqueur

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Simple Syrup

Lemon Twist

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

You could certainly make this drink with your favorite clear gin, but I think Beefeater’s Pink Strawberry gin gives it a little more of a Demy flair. I could absolutely picture Delphine sipping one of these at an outdoor table while she fends off the advances of traveling carnies and speculates about the town serial killer. Besides, if you’re the kind of person who dreams, wouldn’t you rather do it in color? Cheers!

Children's · Classic Films

Doctor Dolittle

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Image credit: Doctor Doolittle, 1967

Having previously imbibed through the other four Academy Award-nominated films of 1967 (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, and Bonnie and Clyde, respectively), I decided I may as well complete the ballot with one of the most maligned movies of all time, Doctor Dolittle (Disc/Download). I know what you’re thinking: one of these is not like the others. And gosh, isn’t that the understatement of the year!

 For all the criticism it receives, let me come right out and say that I don’t think Doctor Dolittle is nearly as bad as people say. Yes, it’s long. Yes, the songs are weird (and not even in a good way). Yes, the special effects are a little cheesy. But for all those faults, there’s nevertheless a fun, deadpan humor to the whole thing, particularly in the way Dolittle banters with his animal friends. Just the idea that a duck would have a “missus” he has to get home to, or that a Great Pink Sea Snail has a cousin in Scotland he’s been meaning to visit (Nessy, in case you were wondering), genuinely makes me chuckle. I can probably go the rest of my life without hearing the vegetarian song, or see Rex Harrison sing-speak an uncomfortable love ballad to a seal dressed in Victorian garb, but I am here for the quaint English homes, the beautiful beaches of Sea Star Island, and the teased crown of Samantha Eggar’s hair. You can take the girl out of the sixties, but you can’t take the hairspray out of Hollywood.

At 2 ½ hrs, you’ll probably need several cocktails to get through this movie. Let’s take inspiration from the living quarters of a snail shell with this perfectly pink drink- the Snail Mail.

Snail Mail

2 oz Malfy Rosa grapefruit gin

¼ oz Aperol

¼ oz Grenadine

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Simple Syrup

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass.

When you compare Doctor Dolittle to live-action Disney films of the era, it comes up short. Without the catchy songs of the Sherman Brothers and the uncannily great casting Walt’s team seemed to deliver, we’re missing a lot of the magic that made films like Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks so good. But I’ll tell you what—I’ll still take Dolittle and his two-headed llama over films like Camelot or The Music Man any day of the week. If this was the end of the big-budget studio musical, at least we went out on the strangest note possible. Cheers!

Dramas

Steel Magnolias

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Image credit: Steel Magnolias, 1989

This week, I’d like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to one of America’s greatest treasures, Miss Dolly Parton. A ray of sunshine in nearly every movie she’s strutted into, this sassy comedienne even manages to bring humor and wisdom to the tearjerker to end all tearjerkers, Steel Magnolias (Disc/Download).

Despite telling myself I’m not going to cry this time, I inevitably lose that battle and end up reaching for the tissues. But before that switch gets flipped and the onscreen heart monitor flatlines, there’s a lot of laughter. Dolly is the glue holding this small Louisiana town together, and she does it with hairspray, curlers, and a smile that just doesn’t quit. As owner of the local beauty parlor, Truvy knows everybody’s story and is always there to lend a friendly ear along with a hot wax treatment. There are other funny characters in this movie, such as Shirley MacLaine’s “Ouiser” and her mangy St. Bernard, but Dolly just brings so much positivity to the role of Truvy that even when we see her go through marital troubles (helloooooo sexy Sam Shepard) and the death of a close friend, we know she’s going to be okay. Dolly is the true Steel Magnolia of this world.

Although iced tea is considered the “house wine of the South,” these ladies deserve something a little more complex than a cold glass of Lipton. Take some inspiration from Shelby’s wedding colors “blush” and “bashful” while you watch Steel Magnolias, with a Tickled Pink cocktail.

Tickled Pink

1 ½ oz Malfy Rosa Gin

¾ oz Lillet Rosé

¼ oz Aperol

3 oz Prosecco

3 oz Sparkling Water

Grapefruit twist

Build drink in a glass over large ice cubes, stirring gently to combine. Garnish with a twist of grapefruit.

Steel Magnolias is the kind of movie that brings to mind the trite saying, “They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” Movies with such rich character development that you feel like you personally know all these women, experiencing their joys and sorrows right along with them. There may not be such a thing as natural beauty, but from where I’m sitting, these Southern gals sure are gorgeous. Cheers!

Comedies

Legally Blonde

LizLocke1 Comment

legally blonde
Image credit: Legally Blonde, 2001

I thought I was done with my month of Campari, but then, one more rose-colored picture called out to me. Not since Funny Face has a film celebrated the color pink in such a big way, from bikinis and laptops, all the way to stationery. Legally Blonde (DVD/Download) is many things, but ultimately for me, it’s a chance to drink a pretty cocktail and wonder what ever happened to Luke Wilson.

After starring in Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon effectively became the queen of the rom-com.  As Elle Woods- sorority bimbo turned Harvard Law phenom- she brings heart and genuine strength to a character that could have come off as a caricature of the “dumb blonde”.  Despite some cringe-worthy moments (bend-and-snap = gag), I appreciate that the screenwriters don’t attempt to change the character when her intelligence starts to take center stage.  She still shows off her cute dresses, Prada shoes, and blonde waves, even when she’s winning legal battles and fending off sexual harassers.  Because yes- it’s okay for a woman to be smart and pretty.  If others have a problem with that, it’s their problem.

If I were Elle, cramming for finals on the quad in a pink bikini, sweater-wearing chihuahua by my side, I’d absolutely be toting a refreshing pink cocktail in my go-cup.  Study time just got a lot more fun!  While watching Legally Blonde, I recommend drinking a Pink Spritz.

Pink Spritz

1 part Rosé wine

1 part Grapefruit Cider (I use Austin Eastciders Ruby Red Grapefruit cider)

1 part Grapefruit Topo Chico sparkling water

Splash of Campari

Combine wine, cider, and sparkling water in a glass over crushed ice.  Top with a splash of Campari.

Pink Spritz

Romantic comedies have all but gone by the wayside, which is a shame because there’s still such a huge market for them.  Maybe the fans have gone into hiding (likely after years of derision by men), but I will proudly say that I am a smart woman who likes romance, pink drinks, and cute outfits.  So sue me.  Cheers!

Classic Films · Musicals

Funny Face

LizLockeLeave a comment

Image credit: Paramount Pictures, 1957, Funny Face
Image credit: Paramount Pictures, 1957, Funny Face

With my wedding anniversary approaching this week, I got a little nostalgic and started looking back through some old photos. It was a very small affair 6 years ago, and the only things I held strong opinions on were the cake and the dress. The cake had to actually taste good, and the dress absolutely HAD to be modeled after Audrey Hepburn’s wedding dress in the film Funny Face (DVD/Download). I’m not delusional enough to think that my body AT ALL resembles Miss Hepburn’s, with her teeny tiny waste, but the dress she wears would look good on anybody. Thus a few phone calls and emails to our family dressmaker/tailor, some swatches sent back and forth, and voila- I had the dress of my dreams.

What’s ironic is that Audrey Hepburn never actually gets married in Funny Face. She plays a Greenwich Village bookstore employee, whose shop is suddenly overtaken by an obnoxious fashion magazine crew. Photographer Dick Avery (played by Fred Astaire and modeled after legendary fashion photographer Richard Avedon) spots Audrey and her “funny face” and decides that she is perfect for the magazine’s next campaign. She is flown to Paris where she models various to-die-for Givenchy ensembles and gallivants around the city, hanging out in beatnik coffee houses and staring up at the Eiffel Tower. The musical numbers in this movie are fantastic, and it’s such a joy to see Audrey dancing with the elegant and graceful Fred Astaire.

My drink this week is inspired by the magazine editor’s declaration “Think Pink!”, which is the first of many catchy tunes. Kay Thompson plays Maggie Prescott (essentially Anna Wintour before there was such a thing as Vogue Editor Anna Wintour), and she instructs her fashionable minions that pink is the next great color trend. Frankly, I like it a lot more than cerulean blue (ahem, The Devil Wears Prada). While watching Funny Face, I recommend drinking a Think Pink!

Think Pink!

2 oz vodka

2 oz grapefruit juice

1/2 oz lime juice

4 tsp Maraschino liqueur

Cherry and lime for garnish

Mix liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, then strain into a chilled glass.  Garnish with cherry and lime.

Think Pink!

I’d like to give a special shout-out to my husband for accompanying me to Target yesterday morning to snag the fabulous Lilly Pulitzer glasses used in the above photo.  Any man who will get up at 7:30 on a Sunday to stand in line with a bunch of crazed women shoppers is a keeper.  I guess maybe finding the right guy is even more important than finding the right dress ;-).  Cheers!