Tag: Robert Redford

Classic Films · Dramas

The Great Gatsby (1974)

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Image credit: The Great Gatsby, 1974

With summer officially here, it seems like a great time to revisit a classic story of wild parties, sweaty cocktails, sweatier people, and lightweight linen suits. The Great Gatsby (Disc/Download) has been adapted several times by Hollywood, but my favorite will always be the 1974 version. There’s something so soothing about the soft focus and pastel costumes that watching it is akin to having a lovely dream during an afternoon nap on a screened-in porch.

Starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as his long lost love Daisy Buchanan, this adaptation is tonally more faithful to the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel than the more recent Baz Luhrmann cinematic extravaganza. Nevertheless, some disco-era touches manage to sneak in. The sequined head wraps, the dewy makeup, the frenetic, dancing crowds—Gatsby’s mansion may as well have been a Studio 54 outpost. The cast is great, particularly Bruce Dern as Daisy’s philandering husband Tom Buchanan, and Sam Waterston in the role of gentle narrator Nick Carraway, but what this film will most be remembered for are the clothes. Featuring menswear designed by Ralph Lauren, The Great Gatsby ushered in a new era of preppy chic. The movie is long at two-and-a-half hours, but I’m convinced the filmmakers just wanted an excuse to throw another three-piece suit up on the screen. Really, I can’t blame them.

Speaking of linen suits, now seems like a great time to drink a quintessential summer cocktail consisting of gin, cucumbers, and elderflower liqueur. Bright and fresh, this will have you dancing the Charleston in no time. While watching The Great Gatsby (1974), I recommend drinking a White Linen cocktail.

White Linen

2oz Gin

¾ oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

1 oz Lime Juice

2-3 slices cucumber, plus more for garnish

2 oz Soda water

Muddle cucumber at the bottom of a shaker with gin, elderflower liqueur, and lime juice. Add ice, and shake to chill. Double strain into a glass filled with fresh ice, and top with soda water. Garnish with fresh cucumber.

Honestly, the true MVP of this movie is the ice bucket. Because there was no central air conditioning in the 1920s, the only relief for the wealthy elite was a cold cocktail. Ice was essential then, and it still is today. It always amazes me when I show up to a party and the host has all the mixers out, but no ice! If you want to be a helpful old sport like Nick Carraway, make sure to stop for a bag of ice before arriving at your next summer soirée; your fellow partygoers will be paralyzed with happiness. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films

The Sting

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: The Sting, 1973

It’s rare for me to think of a movie as 100% perfect. Most of the time (especially in our current era of 2hr+ movies), I’m considering which scenes needed to be cut, which actor was miscast, and at what point the story started to drag. So when I say that The Sting (Disc/Download) is a 100% perfect movie, know that this is a statement I don’t make lightly. From beginning to end, from the biggest star to the tiniest detail, there is nothing I would change about this classic caper film.

Starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman as con men attempting to fleece Irish gangster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), George Roy Hill’s film truly immerses the viewer in Depression-era Chicago. From the title cards, to the music, to the costumes, to the cars, not a single element was overlooked in this production. Add to that a script that’s as clever and slick as an Ocean’s movie, full of twists and turns that never underestimates the intelligence of the audience but still keeps us guessing, and you’ve got a film I can’t look away from. Plus, did I mention the two most attractive men in Hollywood, not just in the 1970s, but maybe, possibly ever, are in the leading roles? Robert Redford was born to play a smart guy in a tux, and Paul Newman was born to play a winking alcoholic, and this is the movie where they both get to shine. Not since Dudley Moore slurred from a limousine have I seen such impeccable drunk acting.

Like the Ocean’s movies, the con job in The Sting is also a revenge job. This time our villain is a vicious Irish mob boss who likes to cheat at cards and doesn’t forgive easily. These guys need to take him for all he’s worth, but never let him know he’s been taken. So sit back and watch the elaborate machinations take shape while you sip on an Irish Stinger.

Irish Stinger

2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

2 oz White Creme de Menthe

Combine Irish Cream with Creme de Menthe in a shaker without ice. Shake until combined, then strain into a glass filled with a large ice cube.

A drink that tastes like an Andes Mint, this is a perfect after-dinner beverage for this undeniably perfect film. But a word of warning: once you see it, you’ll immediately want to watch it again. I could say the same about this drink, too. Truly, a match made in movie-cocktail heaven. Cheers!

Dramas

Out of Africa

LizLocke1 Comment
Image Credit: Out of Africa, 1985

Concluding my journey through 1985, I couldn’t resist a peek at the year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa (Disc/Download). Some might say this is not the best movie to watch when you’re already sweltering under a summer heat wave; however, I like to think of this as a how-to guide for surviving climate change—wear a lot of white linen, stock up on quinine, and make alfresco nighttime vinyl cocktail parties a thing.

Starring Meryl Streep as Karen von Blixen (the writer who would later go on to be published under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen) this is an epic tale of one woman’s struggle to live her best life, despite the incompetent men she’s forced to deal with on a daily basis. Sounds familiar, amiright ladies? Wealthy Karen signs herself up for a marriage-of-convenience that involves a ticket to Nairobi and a coffee farm she never really wanted. But still, she makes the best of it, forging a friendship with handsome safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford)- a friendship that later turns into a passionate romance. Confronted with war, fickle crops, male chauvinism, as well as a fun little bout of syphilis thanks to her deadbeat husband, Karen never loses her classy attitude. She’s all about crystal decanters, Victrola record players, Limoges, and fussy feminine decor, even while on safari. In other words, she basically invented glamping, and we should all bow down.

Because this movie is definitely not climate controlled, I think we need an icy cold beverage to get us through. There’s no greater summertime pleasure than a gin & tonic, so let’s combine the flavors of a G&T with Karen’s beleaguered coffee crop in this Spiked Coffee Tonic cocktail.

Spiked Coffee Tonic

1 oz Gin

1 ½ oz Espresso Cold Brew (canned)

2 oz Tonic

½ oz Brown Sugar Syrup (Combine 1:1 ratio brown sugar with water, blending until sugar is dissolved)

Dried Lemon Wheel (garnish)

Combine gin, cold brew, tonic, and syrup in a highball glass filled with large ice cubes. Stir until combined, then garnish with a dried lemon wheel.

It’s a little surprising to me that this won the Academy Award for Best Picture, given how lackluster the script is. But nevertheless, it’s worthwhile viewing, if only to watch Meryl master the Danish accent as well as those safari-chic fashions. Cheers!