Tag: Preston Sturges

Classic Films · Comedies · Uncategorized

The Palm Beach Story

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Image credit: The Palm Beach Story, 1942

What’s smitten, kittens? This week I’m writing to you from the Treasure Coast of Florida, where the Lilly Pulitzer is abundant and the cocktails are strong. Of course I had to revisit the Preston Sturges classic The Palm Beach Story (Disc/Download) prior to my trip down here, though thankfully, my transportation did not include a Pullman train car with the Ale & Quail club. I also did not step on any millionaires, alas.

Starring Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert as Tom and Gerry Jeffers, the unhappily married couple at the center of this screwball comedy, The Palm Beach Story is the type of zany movie that makes you wonder if Sturges was just making it up as he went along. There are characters that, while memorable, seem to go nowhere, as well as a crazy intro involving twins, a kidnapping, and a wedding. Keep in mind, this is all in the first 60 seconds! My suggestion- make your cocktail before the opening credits and settle in, knowing not everything will make sense, but everything will be funny. This is the kind of film that gets better and better with each viewing, and one I appreciate for its plethora of scene stealers. From the deaf “Wienie King” to the sarcastic and horny Princess Centimillia, to the unfortunate bartender forced to dodge bullets and saltines, there is literally nobody on this screen who isn’t interesting to watch.

In terms of cocktails, I will spare you the “Prairie Oyster” Colbert drinks on the train because I’m not not exactly one for raw egg yolks and Worcestershire. Instead, join me in imbibing a classic Palm Beach cocktail, which will definitely appeal to the Negroni lovers out there.

Palm Beach

2 1/2 oz Gin

1/2 oz Sweet Red Vermouth

1 oz Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit Juice

Maraschino cherry and dried citrus wedge (for garnish)

Combine gin, vermouth, and grapefruit juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a cherry and dried citrus wedge.

If 2020-2022 was my Billy Wilder period, then 2023-2024 is fast becoming my Preston Sturges era. I can’t get enough of his imaginative plots, the social commentary, and all that brilliant dialogue. This isn’t the first Sturges film on Cinema Sips, and it won’t be the last. But Snoodles, it might just be the craziest. Cheers!

Comedies

Raising Arizona

LizLocke2 Comments
Image Credit: Raising Arizona, 1987

If this unrelenting summer has you down, then pour a drink and prepare to laugh yourself silly at Raising Arizona (Disc/Download). A movie I didn’t initially “get”, it’s gotten funnier with each successive re-watch, particularly once I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen. There are some films that benefit from zero distractions and real-time audience reactions, and this screwball heist comedy is one of them.

Starring Nicolas Cage as convicted felon Hi, and Holly Hunter as his beloved wife (and booking officer) Ed, Raising Arizona is among the many Coen Brothers films with clear Preston Sturges influences. The plot follows the “ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances” archetype when an infertile Hi and Ed get the harebrained idea to kidnap one of the Arizona Quintuplets and raise him as their own. This is followed by some impressive camerawork by cinematographer (and future Men In Black director) Barry Sonnenfeld in the nursery, as Hi juggles babies and tries to choose “the best one”. While I normally find babies in movies (and in life) to be pretty tedious, clever editing endears the Arizona quints to my cold heart. Plus, they give Nicolas Cage an excuse to run through a grocery store with a pack of Huggies under one arm and a pair of panty-hose compressing his Woody Woodpecker hairstyle, and for that I am truly grateful.

When the weather gets so hot that you start to feel like you live in a tin can plopped into the desert, that’s when you know it’s time to cool off with a cocktail. While watching Raising Arizona, I recommend drinking this riff on a classic, the “Hi” & Dry.

“Hi” & Dry

2 oz Whiskey

3 oz Canada Dry Ginger Ale

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Rosemary Sprig & Dried Orange for garnish

Combine whiskey, ginger ale, and bitters in a glass filled with a large ice cube. Stir gently to combine, and garnish with a rosemary sprig and dried orange wheel.

With a memorable score that features plenty of yodeling, plus over-the-top line deliveries from Cage and Hunter, plus a mulleted Frances McDormand pushing childhood immunization (yay vaccines!), Raising Arizona has crawled its way up the ladder of my favorite Coen Brothers movies. Before you make the mistake of thinking this is just another ridiculous movie about ridiculous people, I suggest you sleep on it. Cheers!

Classic Films

Sullivan’s Travels

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Sullivan's Travels
Image credit: Sullivan’s Travels, 1941.

I’m often struck by the way history continuously repeats itself. I wonder—do people not already know how this ends? You don’t even need to read a textbook; classic films  provide proof we’ve been through this before. Rampant unemployment, innocent lives lost, oppression of the poor and non-white communities—it’s all there, in this week’s masterpiece of a film, Sullivan’s Travels (Disc/Download). Maybe director Preston Sturges didn’t know how to fix the world’s problems, but he understood that laughter is sometimes the only medicine we’ve got.

Fictional Hollywood director John L. Sullivan is tired of being the Adam Sandler of the 1940s. He’s sick of making brain-dead comedies that fail to address the world’s problems. So he decides to adapt a Serious Novel called O Brother, Where Art Thou (before you ask, yes the beloved Coen Brothers film is a reference to this novel-within-a-movie). But before starting production, Sullivan decides to travel across the country incognito in order to witness and understand the lives of real, ordinary people. He ditches tuxedos in favor of hobo chic, meets Veronica Lake’s character, and together they go off to look for America. However, before their journey concludes, Sullivan gets hit on the head and accidentally assaults a cop. He doesn’t remember that he’s actually a wealthy man of privilege, so he never gets a proper defense in court. After being sentenced to a chain gang, he finally remembers who he is and has to prove his innocence. It’s during a chain gang movie night where he finally realizes the only thing bringing these guys joy is a silly Disney cartoon. It’s their one opportunity to smile and feel human. That’s true of most of America, he realizes. When it comes to entertainment, people don’t want to be told what their problems are; they want to laugh and forget, if only for a little while.

It says a lot about Veronica Lake that even when dressed up like a hobo, she still manages to be one of the sexiest actresses I’ve ever seen. She and Joel McCrea have amazing chemistry, whether they’re sitting beside his swimming pool, or riding the rails of a boxcar. Let’s toast them with this Tramp cocktail!

Tramp

1 oz Sloe Gin

1 oz Peach Liqueur

1 oz Lime Juice

3 oz Cava

Lime twist/dried lime for garnish

Combine sloe gin, peach liqueur, and lime juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a Collins glass filled with crushed ice. Top with Cava and lime garnish.

Tramp

In a weird twist of fate, I actually watched Sullivan’s Travels right after sitting through an old Adam Sandler rom-com. As expected, the Happy Madison flick was a little dumb, but I enjoyed the tropical setting and his schlubby earnestness. It felt good to laugh, at a time when everything in the news made me want to cry. However, it also made me understand how rare it is when a movie causes you smile and think and learn something about the world, which is why Sullivan’s Travels is so special, even today. So give yourself permission to laugh and enjoy a cocktail right now—we all need it. Cheers!