Booze Movies: The 100 Proof Film Guide

Review: Bromo and Juliet (1926)

2012-01-25T19:45:00.014-06:00

USA/Silent/B&W-24m./Dir: Leo McCarey/Wr: Charles Alphin & H.M. Walker/Cast: Charley Chase (Charley), Corliss Palmer (Madge), William Orlamond (Madge’s Father), Oliver Hardy (Cab Driver), L.J. O’Connor (The Cop)

While cinefiles still savor the silent slapstick of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, and (the somewhat overrated) Harry Langdon, the silver screen comedy of Charley Chase is largely forgotten today. However, in his day (the 1920’s and 30’s), Chase was a popular movie comedian, who starred in dozens of silent and sound shorts, as well as a respected director (under his birth name of Charles Parrott) who helmed films for fellow comics from Oliver Hardy to The Three Stooges.

Part of the reason why Chase may be less remembered today than other silent clowns is because his comedy character was less cartoonish than that of his contemporaries. His standard role was that of an average man thrust into the middle of an embarrassing situation. In many ways, Chase’s films were a blueprint for the situation comedies that dominate the television airwaves today. However, that is not meant in any way to devalue Charley Chase’s work; because the best of his output, including Mighty Like a Moose (1926) and Limousine Love (1928) are as good as the best shorts produced by his more famous contemporaries. Charley Chase is long overdue for a critical rediscovery.

Like most comedians of the era, Chase managed to milk prohibition for laughs. In Bromo and Juliet (1926), Chase plays a young man eager to please his fiancé (Corliss Palmer). However, he is less than enthused when she pressures him into playing Romeo to her Juliet in a charity variety show. For one thing, his legs look awful skinny in tights—a problem the resourceful romantic overcomes by padding his legs with sponges.

On the day of the show, not only does Charlie look ridiculous in his Shakespearean garb. He also has to pick up Madge’s perpetually pickled father (William Orlamond), because the old man has also been roped into performing. When Charlie tracks down his father-in-law to be, the old man is boozy and belligerent. Worse yet, he owes a tenacious cabbie (Oliver Hardy) a $40 fare, and the hack won’t let them go anywhere until he is paid.

To raise the required funds, Charley attempts to sell a case of the old man’s bootleg scotch to a man that turns out to be a prohibition agent. The lawman forces Charley—a teetotaler—to down several glasses of the illegal brew. With a snootful of scotch, sponge-filled tights, and an appointment on the stage, Charley represents several disasters waiting to happen.

While Bromo and Juliet would not rank as one of Charley Chase’s best, it is fast and funny throughout. The comic situations are clever and varied; and the cast, including a young Oliver Hardy, are practiced in the art of slapstick. Soused cinema enthusiasts are sure to enjoy Chase’s unique take on drunken farce, and others will find the short a pleasant introduction to the forgotten comedian’s work.

Drinks Consumed--Scotch

Intoxicating Effects—Sneaking sips, slurred speech, staggering, stumbling, hiccups, passing out, public disturbance, and destruction of property

Potent Quotables--TITLE CARD: “—Where c’n I get some o’ the stuff the ol’ bird’s been drinkin;?—“

Video Availability—Bromo and Juliet can be found on DVD as part of both The Charley Chase Collection, Vol. 2 (Slapstick Symposium) and The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy, Vol. 3 (Image).

Similarly Sauced Cinema—A drunken Charlie Chaplin interferes with a stage performance in his Essanay short A Night in the Show (1915).

News: THE LOST WEEKEND added to the National Film Registry

2011-12-28T14:40:00.009-06:00

Greetings fellow inebriates,

Soused cinema enthusiasts received a late Christmas gift today when the Library of Congress announced the list of 2011 inductees in the National Film Registry. Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. Amongst this year's list is The Lost Weekend, probably the most important booze movie ever produced.

Prior to Billy Wilder's film, drunkenness was generally depicted in the movies for comedic effect. Even serious dramas often employed booze as comedy relief. The Lost Weekend was the first film to depict alcoholism fairly accurately (with the exception of an uplifting ending that doesn't quite mesh with the rest). Here's how the Library of Congress described the film in today's press release:

A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America’s leading filmmakers.

To read the full press release and to check out the other 24 inductees, click on the link below:
2011 National Film Registry

Have a safe and happy new year, and check out the excellent boozy dark comedy, Young Adult, if you get a chance. I'll post a full review of Young Adult when it's released on video, but consider it highly recommended.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)

2011-12-12T01:07:00.009-06:00

USA/C-B&W-126m./Dir: Alan Rudolph/Wr: Alan Rudolph & Randy Sue Coburn/Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dorothy Parker), Campbell Scott (Robert Benchley), Matthew Broderick (Charles MacArthur), Wallace Shawn (Horatio Byrd), Nick Cassavetes (Robert Sherwood), Gwyneth Paltrow (Paula Hunt), Tom McGowan (Alexander Woollcott), Martha Plimpton (Jane Grant), Sam Robards (Harold Ross), Chip Zien (Franklin P. Adams), David Thornton (George S. Kaufman), Matt Malloy (Marc Connelly), Peter Gallagher (Alan Campbell), Jennifer Beals (Gertrude Benchley), Andrew McCarthy (Eddie Parker)

Before the Rat Pack (Frank, Dean, Sammy, etc.) and the Bundy Drive Boys (W.C. Fields, John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, etc.) there was the Algonquin Round Table--a loose social club of playwrights, humorists, theater critics, and actors that gathered at the Algonquin hotel in the 1920’s and 30’s to lunch, toss off bon mots, play word games, gossip, flirt, and drink. Most of the group--Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Robert Sherwood, George S. Kaufman, Charles MacArthur, Marc Connelly, Franklin R. Adams, and Alexander Woolcott among them--became more famous for their witticism-laden lunches and for their alcohol intake than they did for their writing.

The dizzy nights and hung-over mornings of the Round Table are captured sporadically in Alan Rudolph’s film, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. This biopic focuses on Dorothy Parker (Jennifer Jason Leigh), one of the wittiest and most celebrated members of the Algonquin group. Rather than covering a lifetime, the film focuses on two important periods for Mrs. Parker--her later years as a Hollywood screenwriter, shot in black and white, and her Jazz Age heyday, shot in color (but leaning heavily on browns). More than anything else, the movie focuses on Dottie’s soulful friendship with fellow Algonquinite Robert Benchley (Campbell Scott) and her constant struggles with depression.

Unfortunately, Alan Rudolph’s film often comes across as warmed-over Robert Altman (a producer on the film). While Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle features a large canvas and a multitude of characters to fill it, the movie doesn’t have the sense of spontaneity or visual flair that buoys even the most middling of Altman’s output. The picture has its draggy sections, and the total effect of the film is to leave the viewer awfully depressed. To be fair, it is hard to imagine telling the story of a woman who tried to commit suicide multiple times without bringing the audience down a bit.

It may sound like I’m panning the picture, but in truth, I’m actually quite fond of it. Primarily, I love the Algonquin wit that is peppered throughout the script. The boozy bon mots help balance out the more downbeat sections of the story. It also doesn’t hurt that much of the humor is alcohol-related.

Secondly, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Campbell Scott’s performances are remarkable, perhaps their best on film. Leigh captures Parker’s savage wit and fragile spirit, as well as her rather unusual vocal tone (Dottie really did talk like that). Scott also does an uncanny job of capturing Benchley’s mannerisms, self-deprecating humor, and dry delivery.

I must admit that I am a sucker for period pieces set in the 20’s and 30’s, and I’ve had an interest in the Algonquin Round Table from the time I read Harpo Marx’s autobiography as a child. Consequently, I was predisposed to like the picture, despite the fact that it did not fully convey the humor, intelligence, camaraderie, and bitchiness of the group. All in all, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a cocktail that tastes vaguely off. Still, it has enough good stuff in it that it is hard not to grudgingly recommend.

Drinks Consumed--Haig and Haig Scotch, gin, whiskey, Champagne, red wine, unnamed liquor in a flask, and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, depression, soused sex, passing out, slurred speech, bickering, physical violence, and hangover

Potent Quotables-- DOROTHY PARKER: One more drink and I’ll be under the host.

Video Availability--DVD (Image)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--If you, like me, prefer docs to biopics, you may want to seek out the Academy Award-winning documentary, The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table (1987).

Booze News: 2012 Silent Movie Calendar

2011-11-13T11:15:00.007-06:00

Greetings fellow inebriates,

Every year at this time we interrupt the flow of soused cinema reviews with a brief commercial for silent film preservation. Fifty percent of the films made before 1950 (including a number of alky-centric titles) are lost forever, and resources are limited to save those that remain. You can make a small contribution to aid the restoration of silent films by purchasing the 2012 Silent Movies Calendar.

Rodney Sauer of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra produces this calendar each year, featuring rare film stills and photographs of silent movie stars contributed by fans. In addition to a dozen beautiful photos in glorious black and white, the calendar also features birthdays of silent-era film stars and personalities, as well as notable marriages, deaths, film openings, and other significant dates. Best of all, the net proceeds made from the sale of the calendars (after printing expenses) are donated to support silent film restoration. This year the profits will go to the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

The theme of the 2012 calendar is silent film stars with animals, including Tony the Wonder Horse, Rin Tin Tin, and various other dogs, cows, and geese. The price is just $14.74 ($12.00 plus shipping), so click on the link below to order yours today!

Get it here-->2012 Silent Movies Calendar

Cheers,
garv

Review: Part Time Pal (1947)

2011-11-05T14:01:00.023-05:00

USA/C-8m./Dir: William Hanna & Joseph Barbera/ /Cast: Tom (Himself)), Jerry (Himself), Mammy Two-Shoes (Lillian Randolph)

When one thinks of the great animation studios of the golden age of Hollywood, Disney and Warner Brothers immediately spring to mind. However, in the 1940’s the Best Animated Short Oscar was awarded to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer more than any other studio; and all but one of those awards were for cartoons starring a blue-gray cat and a brown mouse.

From 1940 to 1958, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera produced 114 Tom and Jerry shorts, earning seven Academy Awards in the process (tied with Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies as the animated series with the most Oscar wins). Not only were the cat and mouse team award magnets; their comedy formula of chase and violence influenced animation of the time and forever after, from the Road Runner to Roger Rabbit to Itchy & Scratchy.

Being that the original Tom and Jerry series lasted 18 years, Hanna and Barbera employed numerous variations on the core idea of “cat chases mouse.” It was inevitable that alcohol would eventually be incorporated into the shenanigans; and in 1947 Tom got plastered in Part Time Pal, the team’s most booze-centric short.

The cartoon begins with the painfully stereotypical housekeeper, Mammy Two-Shoes (Lillian Randolph), threatening to throw Tom out of the house if he allows Jerry to once again sneak into the refrigerator. Despite Tom’s best efforts at guarding the ice box, the mouse outsmarts him and a chase ensues. Tom, of course, gets the worst of it, slipping on some bottles and tumbling down the cellar stairs into a barrel of hard cider. Under the influence of the fermented fluid, Tom sees Jerry as a pal and is more than happy to help the rodent to the contents of the fridge. Unfortunately for Jerry, all conviviality subsides when Tom is hit with the hangover.

Part Time Pal is a serviceable short with some clever inebriated gags. In terms of quality, it falls squarely in the middle of Tom and Jerry series. The animation and writing are not top quality, but there are also Hanna and Barbera shorts that are far worse. The main thing that distinguishes this particular short is the use of drunken behavior as the cartoon’s central theme. Fans of soused cinema will likely notice similarities between Tom and Jerry’s on-again-off-again relationship in this cartoon and the vacillating friendship of the tramp and millionaire in Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece, City Lights (1931).

Drinks Consumed--Hard cider and Bay Rum cologne

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, hiccups, conviviality, slurred speech, destruction of property, and hangover

Potent Quotables--TOM: Hiccup!

Video Availability--The first 37 Tom and Jerry shorts, including Part Time Pal, have been remastered and released in the Tom and Jerry - Golden Collection, Vol. 1 on both Blu-ray and DVD. The cartoons are presented uncut, preserving ethnic stereotypes that were a product of their time. This is one of the most beautiful animation packages presented on disc and is highly recommended.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--The original animated cat gets loopy on joy juice in the 1928 short Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee.

Tom and Jerry - Golden Collection, Vol. 1 (Blu-Ray)

Booze News: Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:54:00.008-05:00

Greetings fellow inebriates,

All Hallow's Eve is nigh upon us, and so is the 150th soused cinema review. "Will it be The Shining?" I hear you ask. I'm afraid not. I was just looking for an image that was appropriately Halloween-y. I'll get to Jack Torrance, Wendy, Danny, Lloyd, and the rest at a later time.

Instead, the 150th review milestone will be marked with a title that most of you will not recognize. However, a good number of you will have likely seen the film associated with that title. Confusing? I hope so. But you'll see what I mean in a few days when the review is posted.

In the meantime, enjoy the holiday with a tasty beverage and a good movie. Let me suggest rye whiskey and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). However, if campy horror isn't your bag, The Rum Diary is well worth a trek to the multiplex. I'll give it a full review when the video is released, but for now I'll say that its great to see Johnny Depp back in HST-mode and even better to see Bruce "Withnail & I" Robinson directing again.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Everything Must Go (2010)

2011-10-16T10:37:00.015-05:00

USA/C-97m./Dir: Dan Rush/Wr: Dan Rush (based on the story “Why Don’t You Dance” by Raymond Carver)/Cast: Will Ferrell (Nick Halsey), Christopher Jordan Wallace (Kenny Loftus), Rebecca Hall (Samantha), Michael Peña (Frank Garcia), Stephan Root (Elliot), Laura Dern (Delilah), Glenn Howerton (Gary)

“Dying is easy. Comedy is hard,” goes the popular theatrical expression. The line has been attributed to everyone from Edmund Kean to Edmund Gwenn, but whatever the origin; there is truth behind the phrase. Comedic performance is a more difficult skill than dramatic acting. Still audiences and even some critics are surprised each time a comedian proves him or herself to be a capable dramatic actor.

Will Ferrell is the latest comic to stretch his dramatic muscles, playing a down-on-his-luck alcoholic in the indie dramedy Everything Must Go. His character, Nick Halsey, is fired from his high-paid sales position due to a history of alcoholism and an unsubstantiated charge of a drunken sexual encounter with a fellow employee. His day goes from bad to badder when he arrives home to find that his wife has left him. Not only that; she’s changed the locks on the house and scattered his possessions across the front lawn. Having nowhere else to go, Nick settles into his easy chair, amidst his other valuables, and begins to down a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

When the cops arrive due to complaints from his neighbors, Nick is forced to hold a yard sale as an excuse for camping out on the lawn. Sitting amongst the clutter, Nick meets a new neighbor (Rebecca Hall) and a lonely kid (Christopher Jordan Wallace) with whom he forges tentative friendships. Together, they help him suffer through the stress of drying out.

As one would expect, Ferrell acquits himself well in the role, which spans from playing light comedy to simulating the sickness of alcohol withdrawal. He is the main reason to see the movie, and it is the comic’s second-best screen performance to date (his turn as Buddy in Elf being the first).

Unfortunately, the movie itself isn’t nearly as memorable as Ferrell’s performance. Everything Must Go isn’t a bad film. The supporting performances are all quite good, the direction from first-timer Dan Rush shows promise, and the cinematography by Michael Barrett is often surprisingly beautiful. The problem is the story, which screams earnest indie -- a middle aged man takes stock of his life, while dealing with an addiction, with the help of a lonely kid and through meaningful conversations with a new neighbor who just happens to be dealing with similar circumstances. On top of that, there is the yard sale, which serves as a ham-fisted metaphor for letting go. Blecch. It is a credit to the cast and crew that they make this stale pabulum palatable.

If you are a fan of Ferrell or a soused cinema completist, you may want to give Everything Must Go a spin on disc. The picture is a pleasant enough way to waste 97 minutes, but it adds nothing new to the booze movie subgenre of alcoholism films.

Drinks Consumed--Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and unnamed hard liquor in a flask

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, drunk driving, outdoor urination, destruction of property, and the shakes

Potent Quotables--COP: How much have you had to drink?
NICK: Uh… In my opinion, not enough.
COP: Ya know there’s a law about having open containers in public, right?
NICK: There’s a law that says I can’t drink a fuckin’ beer on my front lawn?
COP: Sir, you’re going to have to come with me.

Video Availability--DVD and Blu-ray (Roadside Attractions)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Dick Van Dyke played it straight as a public relations man battling alcoholism in the 1974 ABC Movie of the Week, The Morning After.

Booze News: PROHIBITION begins Sunday!

2011-09-30T23:39:00.013-05:00

DVR Alert! Ken Burns' new, three-part, five-and-one-half-hour documentary on Prohibition begins airing Sunday October 2nd on PBS in prime time (check local listings). The remaining parts will air the following Monday and Tuesday.

Of course, this means that the true story of the Volstead Act will compete head-to-head against HBO's fantastic fictionalized account of the era, Boardwalk Empire. As much as I love the drunken violence that HBO has been serving up, I suggest that you adjust your viewing habits for a single week. Boardwalk Empire will receive multiple airings Sunday evening and throughout the week, so it should be easy to catch both programs.

If instead you choose to wait for the eventual DVD and Blu-ray release of the doc, your wait will be brief. Ken Burns' PROHIBITION is officially scheduled to hit stores on Tuesday, October 4th. Here's a link to a rave review of the Blu-ray release, courtesy of DVDTalk.com:

Ken Burns' PROHIBITION Blu-ray

Whichever way you choose to experience what is sure to be the definitive film on the subject, drink it up!

Cheers,
garv

Review: Her Majesty Love (1931)

2011-09-11T16:50:00.018-05:00

USA/B&W-75m./Dir: William Dieterle/Wr: Robert Lord & Arthur Caesar (based on a play by Rudolph Bernauer & Rudolph Oesterreicher)/Cast: Marilyn Miller (Lia Toerrek), Ben Lyon (Fred von Wellingen), W.C. Fields (Bela Toerrek), Leon Errol (Baron von Schwarzdorf), Ford Sterling (Otmar von Wellingen), Chester Conklin (Emil)

Around Hollywood in 1931, most people considered W.C. Fields’ movie career to be all but over. The popular stage comedian had made an attempt at big screen stardom during the mid-Twenties, but his silent features had failed to connect with audiences. While studio mishandling was partly to blame for Fields’ flicker flopperoo, the core of the problem was that silent film proved to be a poor medium for the Great Man’s style of comedy. Soundless cinema robbed W.C. of two of his greatest comedic gifts--his distinctive voice and his ability to improve upon scripted dialogue with copious verbal ad-libbing.

The advent of sound provided Fields with a chance to re-introduce himself to the viewing public, but studio heads were initially reluctant to hire an actor that had previously proved to be a box office dud. However, a chance meeting with Marilyn Miller, a Broadway actress with whom Fields had costarred in the Ziegfeld Follies, led to an offer to portray Miller’s father in her latest film, Her Majesty Love.

A remake of a German film produced the same year, Her Majesty Love retains the Berlin setting of the original. The film begins with champagne and cocktail-soaked revelry in the Berlin Café, where Lia Toerrek (Miller) is the bartender and the center of attention. A young businessman, Fred von Wellingen (Ben Lyon) offers Lia a wedding ring for a dance, and she accepts. Unfortunately, Fred’s nouveau riche family finds the idea of his coupling with a bartendress unacceptable, especially after her father (W.C. Fields) causes a disturbance at a family function with a display of drunken juggling. The family pays Fred off to dump Lia, and she responds by agreeing to marry a wealthy Baron (Leon Errol), who is a six-time divorcee. Of course, Fred eventually comes to his senses, but will he be able to win back Lia prior to her becoming the seventh baroness?

W.C. Fields’ first sound feature, Her Majesty Love, is a pretty anemic affair. It is a musical comedy that is thin on both music and comedy, with a nonsensical script and poor acting (with the exceptions of Fields and Errol). Viewed today, the film appears old-fashioned in the worst possible way. In short, it creaks.

However, once the Great Man appears--about a third of the way into the picture--he commands the screen and makes the most of every moment he is given. It is easy to see why Her Majesty Love jump-started Fields’ film career, while the rest of the cast drifted into bit parts or faded into obscurity. Fields’ talent for making music from scripted dialogue and his physical grace puts the rest of the cast to shame. Only fellow stage comedian Leon Errol holds his own in scenes opposite the Great Man.

For lovers of soused cinema, Her Majesty Love is an interesting museum piece. There is plentiful cocktail-swilling in this Prohibition-era picture (which is likely why Berlin was retained as the setting), and we are treated to one of Fields’ first filmed forays into utilizing alcohol-soaked humor. His juggling scene, while drunk on cognac, is a treasure for both his manual dexterity and the fact that it is one of the few times W.C. acted inebriated on film. Fields often drank in his movies, but he rarely displayed any ill effects. This scene is a notable exception.

Her Majesty Love is not a good film, and most modern audiences will understandably find it a chore to sit through. However, fans of W.C. Fields should seek out this antiquated curio for the hints of the Great Man’s comedic genius that are tantalizingly sprinkled throughout the second half of the film.

Drinks Consumed--Champagne, martinis (gin), Benedictine, cognac, wine, sherry with egg, and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Harmonizing, slurred speech, boasting, juggling, stumbling, public disturbance, and destruction of property

Potent Quotables--WAITER: A drink before dinner, sir?
BARON: Drink always. Before, with, and after… you teetotaler.

Video Availability--Her Majesty Love has never been released on video in any format. However, Turner Classic Movies does air the film from time to time.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--W.C. Fields reunited with his pal Leon Errol for his swan song, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).

W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films [Criterion Collection] -

Booze News: The 1st Official Trailer for THE RUM DIARY

2011-08-26T22:05:00.008-05:00

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

October 28th can't come soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. That's when The Rum Diary, the long-delayed film version of Hunter S. Thompson's novel of the same name, finally hits a multiplex near you (and hopefully near me). The project has been in and out of development since 2000, and the flick itself has been sitting on a shelf since filming was completed in 2009.

I guess it is only fitting that the movie version experienced delays, being that it is based on a novel that Thompson wrote in 1961 but remained unpublished until 1998. We can only hope that the film proves to be as successful and as enduring as the novel turned out to be.

Johnny Depp once again stars as a fictionalized version of Thompson. In The Rum Diary, his character is Paul Kemp, a younger and less drug-addled version of the writer than Raoul Duke of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). While Kemp is more clean cut in appearance than Duke, the newly released trailer indicates that the characters share a love of the bottle and a similar vocal tone.

The film was written and directed by Bruce Robinson of Withnail and I fame. On October 28th, it will be interesting to see how the sensibilities of Robinson and Hunter blend (or collide). In the meantime, we will have to be content with the taste provided by the first official trailer:

I think I'll watch it again, after I get a refill.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Thunder and Lightning (1977)

2011-08-13T15:40:00.012-05:00

USA/C-95m./Dir: Corey Allen/Wr: William Hjortsberg/Cast: David Carradine (Harley Thomas), Kate Jackson (Nancy Sue Hunnicutt), Roger C. Carmel (Ralph Junior Hunnicutt), George Murdock (Jake Summers), Eddie Barth (Rudi Volpone), Claude Earl Jones (Carl), Sterling Holloway (Hobe Carpenter), Patrick Cranshaw (Taylor)

“It’s 250-proof fun!” promised the posters for Thunder and Lightning, a Roger Corman-produced moonshine and car chase quickie. 250-proof? There can be no such thing. 200-proof would indicate 100% alcohol, and it is impossible to have more than 100% of anything. The illogical tag line should have served as a warning to potential ticket buyers, because neither alcohol nor fun is much in evidence in Thunder and Lightning.

A post-Kung-Fu David Carradine stars as Harley Thomas, a hillbilly moonshine runner unofficially engaged to Nancy Sue Hunnicut (Kate Jackson), the daughter of a rich soda pop manufacturer (Roger C. Carmel). In truth, however, Nancy’s father is involved in much more than producing fizzy sugar water. His Honeydew soda plant is a front for a big-time moonshine operation funded by the mob. When Nancy finds out about her father’s dirty dealings, she convinces Harley to help her track down her dad’s latest delivery--a truck full of poison-tainted moonshine. Simultaneously, the mob, upset about the same poisoned brew, sends a couple of hitmen to rub out Nancy’s father. When Harley, Nancy, her father’s thugs, the hitmen, and the state police all speed down the same highway, car crashes, gunfire, and small explosions are sure to follow.

From start to finish, Thunder and Lightning shows all the earmarks of a hastily produced knockoff intended to capitalize on the mainstream success of Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Careful attention is given to any shots that would be used to promote the film. Car and boat chases, pyrotechnics, and even alligator wrasslin’ are all well choreographed and competently shot. However, little effort seems to have been given to any part of the picture that would not directly appear in the trailer.

The script is slapdash. The story jumps haphazardly from one unnecessary complication to another, characters are given actions with little or no motivation behind them, the dialogue is embarrassing, and attempts at humor are pathetic. Instead of a musical score, the film should have been accompanied by the buzzers and horns reserved for game show losers.

The production values are also lacking. The movie appears to have been edited with a hacksaw, making some action set pieces and scene transitions difficult to follow. Worse yet, the sound mix is deplorable. The actor’s voices are often muffled and incomprehensible beneath layers of background noise and music.

Another area of disappointment is the flick’s low alcohol content. Like most white lightning movies, Thunder and Lightning is about transporting liquor rather than consuming it. As a couple of independent moonshiners, Sterling “Winnie the Pooh” Holloway and Patrick “Blue” Cranshaw hoot with orgasmic delight as they ogle their home brew, but they are rudely interrupted before they get a chance to take a taste. Only David Carradine gets to imbibe, downing but a single swig near the beginning of the film. For the remainder of the running time, booze is discussed as a commodity and used as an explosive, instead of being sipped and savored.

The shortcomings of the film can’t be blamed on the cast. David Carradine and Kate Jackson make likeable leads, and it is always a pleasure to see Roger “Harry Mudd” Carmel play a rogue. Character actors such as Eddie Barth and Charles Napier also add a little spice to the brew. However, even the most amiable actors can’t overcome the deficiencies of the script. It should also be noted that none the leads manage to produce a believable Southern accent.

Despite a title that promises the action of the 1958 drive-in phenomenon Thunder Road mixed with a tasty new batch of white lightning, Thunder and Lightning disappoints on all counts. It is a particularly weak brew.

Drinks Consumed--Moonshine (corn whiskey)

Intoxicating Effects--None. No one drinks enough to feel it.

Potent Quotables--HARLEY (taking a swig): Man! That is the best corn I’ve ever tasted.
HOBE: Yeah? Then you better savor every snootful of it. That’s the last cork between us and the temperance society.
HARLEY: Boys, we’ll have another run by the end of the week. You’ll see.

Video Availability--Thunder and Lightning - DVD (20th Century Fox)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Another drive-in moonshine action flick was released two months earlier than Thunder and Lightning, the more enjoyable Moonshine County Express.

Booze News: Laurel & Hardy finally arrive on U.S. DVD!

2011-07-21T17:45:00.014-05:00

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

Lovers of soused cinema and slapstick comedy rejoice! On October 25th, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's classic sound-era shorts and features will be released in a 10-DVD box set! While these films have long been available in Europe, this is the first time most of the duo's talkies will be released in the United States.

The contents of the set have not been announced in full, but it is said to contain 58 shorts and features from 1929-1940. This should include many alky-centric classics, such as Blotto (1930), Them Thar Hills (1934), and the boy's classic teamings with the dean of drunk character actors, Arthur Housman -- Scram (1932), The Live Ghost (1934), The Fixer-Uppers (1935), and Our Relations (1936).

This is a collection that no self-respecting soused cinema enthusiast should be without! For those interested in the full details (and why wouldn't you be), below is the press release:

"TIMELESS SOUND-ERA FILMS FROM THE LEGENDARY HAL ROACH LIBRARY DEBUT IN ONE EXTRAORDINARY DVD SET
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE U.S.

LAUREL & HARDY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION

Digitally Remastered And Digitally Restored, Loaded With Over Two Hours Of Special Features, The Spectacular 10-Disc Set Arrives October 25 From RHI Entertainment And Vivendi Entertainment

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA – Celebrating the genius of the most beloved comedy team of all time, LAUREL & HARDY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION debuts in a stunning 10-disc set on October 25, 2011 from RHI Entertainment and Vivendi Entertainment. With a comedic style that defined an era and created a legacy that is still celebrated today, 58 of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy’s talking shorts and feature films, produced under legendary movie mogul Hal Roach from 1929 through 1940, are now available for the first time in the U.S. all together in one magnificent collection.

Transferred in high definition for the first time and digitally enhanced for home viewing in the finest quality available to date, the set contains favorites that have been enjoyed for generations including Helpmates, Hog Wild, Another Fine Mess, Sons of the Desert, Way Out West, and the Academy Award® winning* film The Music Box.

LAUREL & HARDY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION comes housed in collectible, book-style packaging with an extensive, detailed film guide. The set also boasts over two hours of special features including exclusive, never-before-seen interviews with comedy legends Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Lewis, Tim Conway and more, who discuss the enduring impact and influence of Laurel and Hardy.

Additional features include commentaries by Laurel and Hardy aficionados, along with a virtual location map that allows viewers to take an interactive tour of the iconic places in and around Los Angeles where Laurel and Hardy filmed. Available for the suggested retail price of $99.98, LAUREL & HARDY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION showcases some of the most cherished and hilarious films in cinema history and is a must-have for comedy fans and collectors everywhere.

BASICS
Price: $99.98
Street Date: October 25, 2011
Order Date: September 20, 2011
Catalog Number: RH3021
Language: English
Running time: 1941 minutes
Rating: NR"

The official Website of this DVD set: LAUREL & HARDY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION

Cheers,
garv

Review: Cocktail (1988)

2011-07-10T16:40:00.010-05:00

USA/C-104m./Dir: Roger Donaldson/Wr: Heywood Gould/Cast: Tom Cruise (Brian Flanagan), Bryan Brown (Doug Coughlin), Elisabeth Shue (Jordan Mooney), Kelly Lynch (Kerry Coughlin), Gina Gershon (Coral), Ron Dean (Uncle Pat)

Cocktail manages to present the worst of the 1980’s--greed, machismo, feathered hair, annoying pop songs, and general douche-baggery--in a tight 104-minute package. For those lucky enough to have missed the movie (or the decade for that matter), I would advise steering far clear of this glossy piece of trash. Instead, let me take the bullet for you. I had to watch Cocktail in documenting the booziest films of all time. There is no way for me to un-watch it. Let my trauma serve as a warning to keep other viewers from suffering the same fate.

Tom Cruise smugly swaggers through the flick as Brian Flanagan, an army veteran freshly out of the service, who is looking to make it rich in NYC. When he is unable to find a lucrative position, due to his lack of education and experience, he takes a bartending job at T.G.I. Friday’s. Initially, Flanagan doesn’t know a Singapore Sling from a Kamikaze, but the experienced bartender, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown), helps the newbie master mixology and numerous flashy bar tricks. Soon Brian and Doug’s showboating saloon skills are in such demand that they move up to a trendy nightclub, serving yuppies and heiresses with big hair. However, the friendship/partnership breaks up due to a bet over Flanagan’s girlfriend (Gina Gershon).

Three years later, Brian is tending bar and juggling bottles in Jaimaca, while trying to save up money to open his own place. There he falls for a vacationing blonde, Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue). Around this time, Doug also shows up in Jamaica with a hot, rich wife (Kelly Lynch) that has a proclivity for wearing skimpy swimsuits that show off her buttocks. Flanagan manages to torpedo his relationship with Jordan through another bar bet with Coughlin; and then a bunch of other stuff happens, but I’m guessing by now that you’ve lost interest.

Cocktail is loud, slick, and vapid--the cinematic equivalent of junk food. The filmmaking and actors are competent, but the dialogue Cruise and company are forced to recite is so laughably bad that it is impossible to take any of it seriously. I kept waiting for Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo to show up make fun of the proceedings, but I ended up having to rag on the flick myself.

There are adult beverages galore on display in Cocktail, and the film is undeniably important in drink culture for helping to popularize flair bartending, which involves tossing around bottles and bar tools while preparing mixed drinks. Still, the film is only recommended for the most stout-hearted of soused cinema enthusiasts. Others beware.

Drinks Consumed--Beer, Red Eye cocktail (beer, tomato juice, spices, & egg), Turquoise Blue cocktail (Bacardi rum, Blue Curacao, & pineapple juice), Daiquiri (rum, lime juice, sugar, & crushed ice), Champagne, white wine, Lois XIII brandy, and various unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Stumbling, harmonizing, soused sex, brawling, passing out, and hangover

Potent Quotables--FLANAGAN (offered a shot of cognac): I’ll stick with the brew.
COUGHLIN: Beer is for breakfast around here. Drink or be gone.

Video Availability--Cocktail - DVD (Buena Vista)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Elisabeth Shue went on to co-star in a much better alky-centric flick, Leaving Las Vegas (1995).

Booze News: PROHIBITION is coming!

2011-06-14T22:25:00.013-05:00

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

Today, as I was perusing a local book store, a paperback edition of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent caught my eye. As a devotee of alky-related pop culture, I was naturally intrigued--even more so when I read the callout on the cover:

"FEATURED IN KEN BURNS' PBS DOCUMENTARY PROHIBITION"

After a bit of digging I discovered that Prohibition is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (who worked together previously on The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War, and other projects). It is scheduled to air at a yet unnamed date in the fall. Color me intrigued.

When I know more, you'll know more. In the meantime, here is a sneak preview of the series from PBS:

More info on the upcoming series can also be found here: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/

Cheers,
garv

Review: The Public Enemy (1931)

2011-05-29T22:11:00.019-05:00

USA/B&W-84m./Dir: William A. Wellman/Wr: Kubec Glasmon, John Bright, and Harvey Thew/Cast: James Cagney (Tom Powers), Edward Woods (Matt Doyle), Jean Harlow (Gwen Allen), Donald Cook (Mike Powers), Robert O’ Connor (Paddy Ryan), Beryl Mercer (Ma Powers), Murray Kinell (Putty Nose), Mae Clarke (Kitty)

The U.S. government’s prohibition of alcohol in the 1920’s had the unintended effect of making the fortunes of some of the nation’s most notorious gangsters. A decade later, Hollywood’s exploitation of the violence and drunken depravity of the Prohibition-era jump-started the careers of several of the screen’s most popular leading men, including the immortal James Cagney.

Cagney first found his way to the screen in Sinner’s Holiday (1930), a film adaption of Penny Arcade, a play in which the young vaudeville hoofer turned actor had starred as a bootlegger. Warner Brothers originally hired Cagney to a three-week contract to replicate his stage performance in this single film, but after witnessing his natural screen presence, they hired him to a seven-year contract. Four films later, Cagney starred in another vehicle about Prohibition bootlegging, The Public Enemy (1931). It would launch the diminutive tough guy to superstardom.

Based on an unpublished novel, Beer and Blood, The Public Enemy contains plenty of both. It tells the story of two friends from working class families, Tom Powers (Cagney) and Matt Doyle (Edward Woods), who find that petty theft is more lucrative than working a regular job, like the one held by Tom’s disapproving brother, Mike (Donald Cook). When World War I erupts, Mike is one of the first to volunteer, but Tom stays behind to support his Ma (Beryl Mercer) through his thievery. Prohibition provides Tom and Matt with an even more lucrative criminal enterprise--running bootleg beer. The public’s thirst for illegal alcohol brings Tom and Matt wealth, semi-respectability, and loose women. Unfortunately, it also brings violence and hails of machine-gun fire when a rival gang tries to move in on their territory.

Watching The Public Enemy today, it is obvious that James Cagney was destined to be a star. His performance as Tom Powers is brutal, electric, and charismatic, and he has a naturalism that outmatches his more experienced costars (most of whom come across as stilted, hammy, or both). However, Cagney almost didn’t get to play the part. Edward Woods was originally hired as Powers, and Cagney was supposed to play the supporting role of Matt Doyle. Fortunately, director William Wellman recognized that Cagney was the more dynamic of the duo, and he swapped the actors’ roles after filming had already commenced. It was a genius move, because Cagney absolutely dominates the screen with his forceful performance. No matter what awful things Tom Powers does in the film, from smashing a grapefruit in Mae Clarke’s face to gunning down men in the back, you can’t help but root for him, because Cagney is so appealing.

The movie itself has aged well. Unlike many films of the early Thirties, there is nothing static about The Public Enemy. The camera is constantly moving, the camera placement and compositions are imaginative and effective, and the movie advances at a brisk pace. The picture has also lost none of its power to shock eighty years after its original release.

The Public Enemy is one of the best movies Hollywood ever produced about the Prohibition era. It should be considered essential viewing for lovers of soused cinema.

Drinks Consumed--Beer, whiskey, and champagne

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, passing out, staggering, soused sex, hangover, and memory blackouts

Potent Quotables--TOM: Ain’t you got a drink in the house?
KITTY: Well not before breakfast, dear.
TOM: I didn’t ask you for any lip. I asked if you had a drink.

Video Availability--The Public Enemy is available as a standalone DVD or as part of the Warner Gangsters Collection Volume 1 (DVD) (6-Pack).

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Cagney gets pulled into the bootlegging business again in The Roaring Twenties (1939).

Booze News: Miscellaneous Summer News Items

2011-05-18T18:15:00.006-05:00

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

The summer is nigh upon us, and I have a handful of headlines to pass along that may be of interest to soused cinema enthusiasts:

Miss Trivia App on Sale: Firstly, cocktail goddess and friend of Booze Movies, Cheryl Charming has a iPhone/iTouch/iPad drink trivia app, Miss Trivia, which contains 5000 questions in five fizzy categories. One of the categories, "Celebrity Cocktails," is specifically centered on adult beverages in film. For a limited time, the app can be purchased at a special discount price of just 99 cents. You'd be fool-hearty not to buy Cheryl's app at that price, so let's show her some love. You can find more info and a download link for Miss Trivia at http://www.misscharming.com/app.htm.

Soused Summer at the Cineplex: We're only a few weeks into the summer movie season (summer apparently starts in late April now), and we've already been treated to some alky-centric gems. We've witnessed the god of thunder drink Stellan Skarsgård under the table in Thor, Will Ferrell has portrayed a down-on-his luck boozer in Everything Must Go, and Kristen Wiig has gotten pickled on a plane in Bridesmaids (all of which have garnered good reviews). This week Johnny Depp returns to the role of rum-sodden Captain Jack Sparrow (although the early word has been decidedly disparaging for Pirates 4). This is quite a promising start for a soused summer at the cineplex. Now, if they'd only start offering cocktails at the concession stand, we'd really have something.

The Thin Man Greenlit: Speaking of Johnny Depp, I posted an item back on October 30th that the actor was interested in rebooting the classic Thin Man series with director Robb Marshall. Apparently, the picture is going forward with Depp portraying the perpetually potted Nick Charles. There's no word yet as to who is being considered to play Nora, Nick's loyal wife and drinking companion. Of course, Depp has remakes of Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger (as Tonto) scheduled ahead of The Thin Man, so Nora's casting is likely a long way off. While I can't imagine any two actors capturing the same kind of electric chemistry that William Powell and Myrna Loy displayed, the idea of this remake doesn't fill me with disgust in the way Russell Brand's take on Arthur did. I like Depp, and with the right Nora (Winona Ryder, perhaps) the project could be a tipsy treat.

That's all for now. I'll be back soon with a review of James Cagney's star-making prohibition classic, The Public Enemy (1931). Until then...

Cheers,
garv

Review: The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969)

2011-04-30T22:04:00.018-05:00

USA/C-140m./Dir: Stanley Kramer/Wr: William Rose & Ben Maddow (based on a Robert Crichton novel)/Cast: Anthony Quinn (Italo Bombolini), Anna Magnani (Rosa), Virna Lisi (Caterina Malatesta), Hardy Krüger (Capt. Von Prum), Sergio Franchi (Tufa), Renato Rascel (Babbaluche), Giancarlo Giannini (Fabio)

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Stanley Kramer was Hollywood’s message man, having directed such sober, thought-provoking fare as The Defiant Ones (1958), On the Beach (1959), Inherit the Wind (1960), and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). However, L.A.’s most moralistic auteur was also capable of working in a lighter tone, as evidenced by his 1963 mega-comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. After that foray into slapstick, Kramer combined his didactic moralizing with light comedy for the fondly remembered (but merely passable) interracial love story Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) and then again (more successfully this time) for the forgotten vino-centric gem The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969).

The latter film is set during World War II in the small wine-producing village of Santa Vittoria. When news reaches the town that Prime Minister Benito Mussolini has died, the municipality’s biggest lush, Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn), climbs the water tower to paint over the name of the fascist leader. This act of drunken courage prompts the townspeople to imprison their fascist counselmen and elect Bombolini their new mayor. While Bombolini initially enjoys the respect that comes with his new position, he finds headaches aplenty when the German army threatens to occupy and loot the town. The thought of losing the stores of 1,317,000 bottles of wine fills the town’s wino-in-chief with dread, so he concocts a plan to hide a million bottles from the invading Nazis.

Running 140 minutes, The Secret of Santa Vittoria comes across as a bit bloated. The main problem is the film tries to cover too many storylines--the plot to fool the Nazis, Bombolini’s estrangement from his wife (Anna Magnani), an affair between the local Contessa (Virna Lisi) and an army deserter (Sergio Franchi), what to do with the imprisoned Fascists, etc. The picture’s pace is also a bit too languid at times, especially during the romantic subplots. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives in this enjoyable, lighthearted serio-comedy.

Chief amongst the movie’s merits is Anthony Quinn’s bombastic, big-hearted performance as Bombolini, which consistently pushes the picture back into gear every time it begins to drag. While Quinn is a formidable spotlight-stealer, much of the cast matches his energy, especially Anna Magnani as his ball-busting wife, Renato Rascel as Bombolini’s right-hand man on the town counsel, and a youthful Giancarlo Giannini as a rabble-rousing college student. Hardy Krüger also makes a fine antagonist as the semi-civilized Nazi commander, Captain Sepp Von Prum.

The technical aspects of the movie are also quite accomplished, including beautiful cinematography from frequent Fellini collaborator Giuseppe Rotunno and music from It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World composer Ernest Gold. The lushness in the look and feel of the film makes even the slowest sections of the story enjoyable to watch.

Soused cinema enthusiasts are strongly encouraged to seek out this lesser-known gem. It goes down nicely with several goblets of a full-bodied red.

Drinks Consumed--Wine and more wine

Intoxicating Effects--Sneakin sips, depression, public disturbance, and hangover

Potent Quotables--VON PRUM: Where’s the wine?
BOMBOLINI: Sir, I have told you. I promise you. There is no wine.

Video Availability--The Secret of Santa Vittoria - Widescreen DVD (United Artists)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--The residents of Todday, a small island off the coast of Scotland, race to save 50,000 cases of whiskey from a sinking ship in Whisky Galore (a.k.a. Tight Little Island, 1949).

Review: The Country Girl (1954)

2011-04-02T12:25:00.018-05:00

USA/B&W-104m./Dir: George Seaton/Wr: George Seaton (based on the play by Clifford Odets)/Cast: Bing Crosby (Frank Elgin), Grace Kelly (Georgie Elgin), William Holden (Bernie Dodd), Anthony Ross (Phillip Cook), Gene Reynolds (Larry), Jacqueline Fontaine (Lounge singer)

Genial crooner B-B-B-Bing Crosby and porcelain princess Grace Kelly took 180-degree turns from their familiar screen personas for the Hollywood adaptation of the Clifford Odets’ play, The Country Girl. Crosby set aside his easy-going charm to dive into darker Lost Weekend-esque emoting, while Kelly de-glamorized as his dowdy, long-suffering wife. Both the risky performances and the soapy story (a drunken has-been attempting one last shot at the big time) had the luster of assured Oscar-bait. As expected, both Der Bingle and the princess scored Academy Award nominations, and Kelly even took home the coveted statuette.

The story centers upon a Broadway musical in the making. When the star of the production is fired, the show’s director, Bernie Dodd (William Holden) gambles on hiring Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby), a washed-up, balding actor-singer with a bad reputation as an unreliable boozer. In hiring Elgin, Bernie discovers that the alky’s domineering wife Georgie (Grace Kelly) comes as part of the package. While the woman-hating director blames the Missus for Elgin’s weaknesses, in reality, she is only thing keeping the actor from slipping into a pit of self-loathing and depression. Will Georgie be able to keep Frank’s fragile psyche from unraveling or is another bender in the offing? Actually, it’s all rather predictable.

In many ways, The Country Girl has not aged well. The script (which won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar) is trite and overly melodramatic, employing obvious plot contrivances such as the loss of a child, the love triangle, and the triumph over personal demons. The soapiness of the story isn’t helped by the fact that director George Seaton occasionally lets his actors stray too far into histrionics. In addition, the play within a play, “The Land Around Us,” which the company is trying to mount, consistently comes across as a turkey. It is hard to believe that any star, let alone a broken-down drunk, could breathe life into a musical with no memorable songs. The only musical number that truly shines in the film is an impromptu number that has nothing to do with the show in question--a drunken duet in a bar between Bing and lounge-singer Jacqueline Fontaine.

The Country Girl remains watchable today mainly due to the curiosity value of Bing and Grace’s against-type performances. While both can be caught acting at times, it is interesting seeing each of them in an unfamiliar context. Overall, the experiment is a success. However, the one truly great performance in the film is given by William Holden, one of the most reliable screen actors in Hollywood history.

While The Country Girl is a bit of a slog at times, there is enough that is interesting and good in the picture to ultimately recommend it. It also is an important title in the “alcohol-as-disease” canon, which should be enough reason for soused cinema enthusiasts to give it a once-over.

Drinks Consumed--Beer, 44-proof cough medicine, and whiskey

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, depression, harmonizing, public disturbance, destruction of property, and jail time

Potent Quotables--BERNIE: Frank, there are as many reasons for drinking as there are drinkers, but there are only two reasons why a drinker stops--he dies or he decides to quit, all by himself.

Video Availability--The Country Girl DVD (Paramount)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Bing and Grace re-teamed in 1956 for High Society, the champagne-soaked remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940).

Booze News: Arthur Trailer vs. Arthur Trailer

2011-03-17T20:07:00.006-05:00

This just makes me sad:

Where's the booze? More importantly where are the laughs?

The original 1981 film is a modern-day classic. Hollywood-types, why do you insist on remaking movies that were great the first time around? Remake a bad film and improve upon it (such as you did with The Fly and True Grit). Better yet, come up with an original idea.

So as not to leave this post on a down note, here's a taste of the Dudley Moore original:

Cheers,
garv

Review: A Night Out (1915)

2011-02-21T15:18:00.034-06:00

USA/Silent/B&W-34m./Dir: Charles Chaplin/Wr: Charles Chaplin/Cast: Charles Chaplin (Reveler), Ben Turpin (Fellow Reveler), Bud Jamison (Headwaiter), Edna Purviance (Headwaiter’s Wife), Leo White (French Dandy/Desk Clerk)

After a single year in the movie business, Charlie Chaplin had risen from being virtually unknown to ranking as of the most recognized comedy star in motion pictures. Exercising his new-found fame and the power that went with it, Chaplin left Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios for more money and more artistic control at rival Essanay Studios. At his new home, Chaplin experimented with the formula of his comedies, employing more disciplined story structures, greater character development, better motivation for his slapstick, and occasional excursions into the territories of pathos and satire. However, his first few films borrowed heavily from the frenzied, knockabout style that characterized the Keystones.

A Night Out, Chaplin’s second short with the new company, plays like a “greatest hits” compilation of the earlier intoxicated slapstick shorts that the comedian produced for Keystone. The first half of the comedy is almost a repeat of the second half of The Rounders (1914), with Ben Turpin taking the place of Fatty Arbuckle as Chaplin’s drinking buddy. After consuming numerous unknown adult beverages at the local saloon, Charlie and Ben stagger down the street and into a swanky eating establishment. There they add to their buzz with a couple of beers and proceed to pester a French dandy ( Leo White) who is seated at a nearby table. After several bits of drunken shtick and slapstick roughhousing, the pair are booted out of the restaurant by the brutish head waiter (Bud Jamison, who would go on to comic immortality as a foil of The Three Stooges in their early Columbia shorts).

The second half of the short covers much of the same hotel-based inebriated humor previously mined in the first half of The Rounders, Mabel’s Married Life, and especially Mabel’s Strange Predicament (all 1914). Chaplin returns to his room at a hotel and flirts with a pretty girl (Edna Purviance), who turns out to be the wife of the head waiter (who coincidentally lives across the hall). Charlie packs his bag and moves to a different hotel, but the waiter and his wife do as well. Through a series of farcical coincidences, Charlie and the waiter’s wife end up in the same room together in their pajamas, which can only spell trouble for the drunken Charlie.

While Chaplin’s work continued to bloom as he gained more creative freedom at his new studio, A Night Out feels more like a step back than a move forward. Chaplin adds nothing to his previous inebriated shtick in his transition from Keystone to Essanay, and the material seems less fresh the second time around. The fact that A Night Out is twice the length of the Keystones that inspired it only adds to the meandering, slower-paced feel of the short. Finally, Ben Turpin proved to be a less talented comic partner than Roscoe Arbuckle, and A Night Out was Chaplin’s final pairing with the cross-eyed comic.

The only notable aspect of A Night Out is that the film was the first time Chaplin worked with Edna Purviance, the woman who would go on to be his primary celluloid love interest for the next eight years. In A Night Out, Chaplin appears to be trying to shape Edna into a comedienne in the Mabel Normand mold. In this short, Edna even finds herself in another man’s room in her pajamas through the fault of a dog, as Mabel Normand did in Mabel’s Strange Predicament. While Edna had a different screen presence than Mabel Normand, Chaplin quickly found that she was up to the task of playing both the comic and dramatic female leads that he would need for the better pictures that followed.

Drinks Consumed--Beer, wine (possibly Champagne), and unknown alcohol consumed off screen

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, stumbling, belching, bickering, public disturbance, physical violence, and bar tossed

Potent Quotables--None to speak of

Video Availability--A Night Out is available on numerous budget DVDs. However, the best video release of the short is on Image Entertainment’s Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, Vol 1, which is available as a standalone disc or as part of the box set, Charlie Chaplin Short Comedy Classics. It can also be seen in its entirety at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KszgkMeDoXQ.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Chaplin’s next inebriated Essanay short, A Night in the Show (1915) was a film version of his celebrated stage drunk act.

Booze News: W.C. Fields Film Fest!

2011-02-07T17:56:00.038-06:00

Attention NYC Soused Cinema Enthusiasts!

New York City's Film Forum will pay homage to the patron saint of soused cinema with a retrospective of the work of W.C. Fields from Friday, April 22 – Thursday, May 3, 2011. This celebration will showcase 27 of the Great Man's features and shorts, including the rare silents It's the Old Army Game (1926), So's Your Old Man (1926), and Running Wild (1927). Don't miss this rare opportunity to see these classic booze movies on the big screen.

The films that will be screened are listed below. For showtimes, check out the Film Forum schedule.

April 22 - 23
IT'S A GIFT (1934)
THE DENTIST (1932)
MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935)

April 24 - 25
DAVID COPPERFIELD (1935)
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1933)

April 25
SALLY OF THE SAWDUST (1925)
THE GOLF SPECIALIST (1930)
THE PHARMACIST (1933)
THE BARBER SHOP (1933)
THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (1933)

April 26
POPPY (1936)
MISSISSIPPI (1935)

April 27
IF I HAD A MILLION (1932)
TILLIE AND GUS (1933)

April 28
THE OLD FASHIONED WAY (1934)
MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH (1934)
SO'S YOUR OLD MAN (1926)

April 29
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE (1933)
MILLION DOLLAR LEGS (1932)

April 30
THE BANK DICK (1940)
NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941)

May 1
RUNNING WILD (1927)

May 1 - 2
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (1940)
YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (1939)

May 2
IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926)

May 3
SIX OF A KIND (1934)
YOU'RE TELLING ME! (1934)

Review: Desperado (1995)

2011-01-30T16:17:00.014-06:00

USA/C-104m./Dir: Robert Rodriguez/Wr: Robert Rodriguez/Cast: Antonio Banderas (El Mariachi), Salma Hayek (Carolina), Joaquim de Almeida (Bucho), Cheech Marin (Short Bartender), Steven Buscemi (Buscemi), Quentin Tarantino (Pick-up Guy), Danny Trejo (Navajas), Tito Larriva (Tavo), Carlos Gomez (Right Hand)

A weaselly guy (Steve Buscemi) walks into the Tarasco Bar and orders a beer so disgusting that the tap belches with each draw. He then proceeds to spin a tale about a mysterious Mexican with a guitar case full of weapons who massacred the denizens of another saloon while trying to find out information regarding the whereabouts of Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), the local drug kingpin. The bartender (Cheech Marin) and bouncer (Tito Larriva) listen intently to the stranger’s story, because the bar is actually a front for Bucho’s drug operation. Soon the heralded guitar case-carrying vigilante (Antonio Banderas) appears at the Tarasco Bar looking for revenge on the drug dealers that killed the woman he loved. In his quest for vengeance against Bucho, the vigilante will encounter numerous gun-toting underlings, a knife-wielding goliath (Danny Trejo), and a beautiful bookstore owner with middling surgical skills (Salma Hayek).

Along with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez emerged as one of the darlings of the 1990’s indie film movement. To audiences of the time, their films were action-packed, subversive, and most of all, “cool.” Unfortunately, while Tarantino’s films hold up remarkably well, Rodriguez’s output seems a lot less cool today that in did fifteen years ago. Looking back at Desperado, the Hollywood sequel to Rodriguez’s low-budget, Spanish-language debut, El Mariachi (1992), Rodriguez’s weakness as a storyteller are much more apparent now (after a string of movies that celebrate style over substance and an almost fanatical disregard for coherent narrative) than they were at the time of its release.

While the bar-related humor and action scenes in the first half of the film are undeniably fun, the film runs out of steam in the second half as the gunfights get repetitive and the motivations of the hero and villain are undeveloped. For viewers that missed Rodriguez’s debut film, the dream sequences that should explain the reasons behind Banderas’ revenge are confusing, and even audiences that saw El Marachi may have difficulty explaining why the Marachi wants to kill Bucho, when it was another drug lord, Moco (Peter Marquardt), that actually killed his girl. It also doesn’t help that Joaquim de Almeida plays Bucho as a smaller than life baddie and that the revelation of a surprise relationship between him and the Mariachi is laughably corny.

Desperado skates by primarily on the charms of its cast. Luckily, Banderas, Buscemi, Cheech Marin, and especially Salma Hayek have charm to spare. In fact, Robert Rodriguez’s greatest contribution to cinema has been to introduce the lovely Hayek to American audiences. Desperado is worth revisiting for her presence alone, but soused cinema enthusiasts will also enjoy the memorable bar scenes that open the film.

Drinks Consumed--Beer (piss-warm Chango), margaritas (Tequila), and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Belching, swearing, public disturbance, and physical violence

Potent Quotables--SHORT BARTENDER: What do you want?
BUSCEMI: Beer.
SHORT BARTENDER: All I got is piss-warm Chango.
BUSCEMI: That’s my brand.

Video Availability--Desperado has been paired with El Mariachi on DVD and Blu-Ray (Sony)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--A bar was also the setting for the second half of Rodriguez’s next full-length feature, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).

Review: Lucky Lady (1975)

2011-01-09T00:11:00.022-06:00

USA/C-118m./Dir: Stanley Donen/Wr: Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz/Cast: Gene Hackman (Kibby Womack), Liza Minnelli (Claire), Burt Reynolds (Walker Ellis), Robby Benson (Billy), Geoffrey Lewis (Capt. Mosely), John Hillerman (McTeague), Michael Hordern (Capt. Rockwell)

Moonshine movies were all the rage in the Sixties and Seventies, so Twentieth Century Fox felt they had a sure hit on their hands with Lucky Lady, a comedy about rumrunners during Prohibition. With actors like Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds, and Liza Minnelli (fresh off an Oscar win for Caberet) attached to star, Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain, Charade) set to direct, and a couple of tunes by Kander and Ebb (Cabaret), what could possibly go wrong? Just about everything, as it turned out. The movie’s twelve-week shooting schedule expanded to twenty; its $10 million dollar budget ballooned to 22 million; and the cast had to be reunited for re-shoots when test audiences didn’t go for the original ending. Worst of all, when the flick was finally released on Christmas of 1975, it belly-flopped at the box office.

Liza Minnelli stars as Claire, a nightclub singer and widow of a smuggler, who concocts a plan to make some dough by transporting Canadian scotch from Tijuana to San Diego on her lover’s yacht. Said lover, Walker Ellis (Burt Reynolds), loses the stake money for the booze to a drifter (Gene Hackman), so Claire reluctantly has to take on a third partner. The trio ends up getting along famously (ménage-a-trios are implied), and they turn their initial bootlegging excursion into a booming business. Unfortunately, this draws the attention of an overzealous coast guard (Geoffrey Lewis) and a gangster (John Hillerman) who wants to snatch control of all of the bootlegging traffic.

It’s easy to see why Lucky Lady failed to connect with audiences and critics in 1975. In fact, it’s hard to imagine who the intended audience for the film could have been. The subject matter was too sexually suggestive for family audiences but not daring enough to appeal to prurient interests. The tone of the film was all over the place, swinging from low comedy to stark seriousness to musical numbers to gruesome violence. The picture was even pretty ugly to look at, due to the use of flashing techniques, in which film is pre-exposed to light to give it a hazy, vintage look. In the case of Lucky Lady, this film flashing didn’t so much evoke a 1930’s setting as it suggested that the crew perpetually filmed in a fog.

Although Reynolds, Hackman, and Minnelli do sample their product from time to time, Lucky Lady is a typical bootlegging movie, in that alcohol is moved around a lot more than it is actually consumed. However, if inquisitive soused cinefiles decide to seek out this forgotten curio, they will probably find it to be an amiable time waster. Lucky Lady isn’t nearly as bad as its reputation. It’s simply mediocre to its core.

Drinks Consumed--Scotch (Johnny Walker Red, Usher’s Green Stripe, and Black & White), and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, slurred speech, and harmonizing

Potent Quotables--BILLY: My dad always used to make a toast after a good run, but you only drink half of it.
CLAIRE (raising a glass of scotch): To us.
EVERYONE: To us. (They drink.)
KIBBY: What’s the other half for?
BILLY: That you give to the old man who lives in the sea for lettin’ us sail home safe. (They each toss their glasses with the remaining scotch overboard.)
KIBBY: Give me another half there. Will ya, kid.

Video Availability--Lucky Lady -DVD (Shout Factory)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Angie Dickinson tries her hand at bootlegging but finds robbing banks more profitable in Big Bad Mama (1974).

Booze News: W.C. Fields' IT'S A GIFT inducted into the National Film Registry

2010-12-28T17:33:00.014-06:00

Back on October 1st, I urged readers to email the National Film Preservation Board to recommend that a handful of soused cinema classics be included in the National Film Registry. Today, the Library of Congress announced the 2010 inductees, and W.C. Fields' comedy classic It's a Gift made the list! Here's a blurb from today's announcement:

It’s a Gift (1934)
The popularity and influence of W.C. Fields continues with each succeeding generation, distinguishing him as one of the greatest American comedians of the 20th century. "It’s a Gift" has survived a perilous preservation history and is the third Fields film to be named to the National Film Registry. The film’s extended comic sequence featuring Baby LeRoy, and depicting Fields’ travails while trying to sleep on the open-air back porch of a rooming house, was adapted from one of his most successful live theatrical sketches.

A number of other worthy films were also inducted this year, including another personal favorite, Robert Altman's best film, McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971). Here's the complete list:

Airplane (1980)
All the President’s Men (1976)
The Bargain (1914)
Cry of Jazz (1959)
Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Front Page (1931)
Grey Gardens (1976)
I Am Joaquin (1969)
It’s a Gift (1934)
Let There Be Light (1946)
Lonesome (1928)
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
Malcolm X (1992)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Newark Athlete (1891)
Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
The Pink Panther (1964)
Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Study of a River (1996)
Tarantella (1940)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
A Trip Down Market Street (1906)

Let's lift an Orange Blossom (gin and orange juice) tonight in honor of the Great Man and his film, It's A Gift!

Cheers,
garv

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Vol. 1 (The Bank Dick / My Little Chickadee / You Can't Cheat an Honest Man / It's a Gift / International House)

Booze News: TRUE GRIT is the year's best!

2010-12-23T17:01:00.020-06:00

The Coen Brothers' new take on Charles Portis' novel True Grit doesn't really qualify as a "booze movie," despite the fact that Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn is known as a man who "likes to pull a cork." There simply isn't enough drinking in the movie (with the exception of one scene in which Rooster downs a considerable amount of confiscated whiskey). Still, I feel compelled to write a micro-review of the film, because True Grit is the best motion picture I've seen this year, and it's the best American Western since Unforgiven (1992). Actually, it's better than Unforgiven. Sorry, Clint. The Coens are simply better filmmakers.

It should be no secret to anyone that has visited this site that I am a fan of old movies. However, I can say without reservation that the new True Grit surpasses the 1969 Henry Hathaway-directed version with John Wayne in every measurable criteria, including script, cinematography, direction, acting, mood, thrills, and entertainment value. The highest of all praise in this extremely praiseworthy film should be bestowed upon Hailee Steinfeld, who plays the central character, 14-year-old Mattie Ross. If she isn't nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, I'll be severely disappointed.

I'd also say that Joel and Ethan Coen may have crafted their best film with True Grit. I can't call it my favorite Coen Brothers film after a single viewing (Miller's Crossing has held that crown for a long time). However, True Grit may nose it's way to the front of the pack eventually. It is a near-perfect film.

Do yourself a favor and see this movie on the big screen while you have a chance. Better yet, see it twice. I know I'll have to see it at least one more time in its full theatrical glory.

Cheers and happy holidays,
garv

Booze News: Unnecessary Sequel Alert - Bad Santa 2

2010-12-22T23:10:00.006-06:00

Somehow I missed a report a few days ago at Variety.com that the Weinstein Co. has made a deal with Miramax to produce sequels to many of their hottest library titles, including Shakespeare in Love, Rounders, and the greatest Christmas film ever made, Bad Santa. It is predicted that these projects will go in production next year. Future theatrical sequels or TV projects may also be developed based on Swingers, Bridget Jones' Diary, The Amityville Horror, Copland, From Dusk Till Dawn, Clerks, and Shall We Dance.

Since Billy Bob Thornton has expressed interest in the past in reprising the role of Willie T. Soke (especially if Terry Zwigoff can be lured back to direct), Bad Santa 2 is the most likely of the bunch to eventually reach a multiplex near you. That's a shame. Bad Santa is a perfect little gem, and a sequel can only end up sullying the name of the original. I've got five words (actually four words and a numeral) for anyone who doesn't think this is a bad idea--Arthur 2: On the Rocks.

Here's a link to the full story at Variety.com:

Miramax, Weinstein Co. pact for sequels

Cheers,
garv

Review: Nightmare Alley (1947)

2010-12-21T11:28:00.017-06:00

USA/B&W-110m./Dir: Edmund Goulding/Wr: Jules Furthman/Cast: Tyrone Power (Stanton Carlisle), Joan Blondell (Zeena Krumbein), Coleen Gray (Molly), Helen Walker (Lilith Ritter), Mike Mazurki (Bruno), Ian Keith (Pete Krumbein) Taylor Holmes (Ezra Grindle)

“How do ya get a guy to be a geek?” grifter Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Tyrone Power) wonders at the beginning of 1947’s ultra-cynical film noir, Nightmare Alley. He’s just witnessed the carnival wild man eat live chickens, and he can’t fathom how a guy could get so low. The answer, of course, is booze. The geek is a bottle-a-day drunk who will do anything for his liquor. In posing the question, Stan doesn’t realize he’s just a misstep or two away from being a rum dumb sideshow attraction himself. Nightmare Alley provides the dark, voyeuristic pleasure of watching Stanton slide inexorably toward that fate.

Like many noir protagonists, Stanton Carlisle is a “Class-A” heal. He begins as a barker at a small-time carnival, assisting Zeena (Joan Blondell), a middle-aged mind reader, and her whiskey-sodden partner, Pete (Ian Keith). Trying to worm his way into becoming a headliner in the act, Stanton decides to assist Pete in drinking himself to death. The plan works a little too well when Stanton accidentally gives Pete a bottle of wood alcohol instead of moonshine. When Pete dies of alcohol poisoning, Zeena teaches Stan the word code that is the key to the mentalist act. Soon after, Stan dumps Zeena and leaves the carnival with a younger beauty (Coleen Gray). Together they take the act to the nightclub circuit, where Stan finds big money and fame as “The Great Stanton.” After such a meteoric rise, a big descent is sure to follow, with only alcohol to cushion the fall.

Fed up with playing nice-guy romantic leads and swashbuckling heroes, Tyrone Power purchased the rights to William Gresham's novel, Nightmare Alley, in order to convince the brass at 20th Century Fox to let him play the unsavory lead. Although hesitant to let their biggest star sully his reputation, the studio bosses reluctantly relented. The resulting film and Power’s performance were both deliciously dark triumphs. The pretty-boy star would never be better than as “The Great Stanton,” and the pitch black film wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without such a magnetic star at its center.

The supporting cast is also outstanding. Power is given fine support by his three leading ladies--Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, and Helen Walker. Character actors Mike Mazurki, Taylor Holmes, and especially Ian Keith (in a scene-stealing turn as the drunkard, Pete) also add color to the proceedings.

While the film sags a bit about three-quarters in and the story has occasional lapses in logic (such as taking tarot card readings seriously while preaching that mysticism is for suckers), these are minor quibbles compared with the overall effect conveyed by this chillingly dark tale of deceit and alcoholism. Nightmare Alley is a soused cinema “must see.”

Drinks Consumed--Rye whiskey, moonshine, wood alcohol, beer, and gin

Intoxicating Effects--Slurring, staggering, stumbling, harmonizing, the giggles, hangover, the shakes, delirium tremens, public disturbance, physical violence, and death

Potent Quotables--STAN: Well, you’re a fine one--running off in the middle of the show. Zeena was sore.
PETE: I couldn’t help it. She’s got me on a diet--one shot a day.
STAN: You seem to be doin’ all right.
PETE: No. Just a sip here and there. Zeena’s tipped everybody off.

Video Availability--Nightmare Alley (Fox Film Noir) DVD

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Booze darkened many noirs prior to Nightmare Alley, including the previous year’s Black Angel.

Review: Shakes the Clown (1991)

2010-11-20T18:31:00.017-06:00

USA/C-87m./Dir: Bobcat Goldthwait/Wr: Bobcat Goldthwait/Cast: Bobcat Goldthwait (Shakes the Clown), Julie Brown (Judy), Tom Kenny (Binky the Clown), Blake Clark (Stenchy the Clown), Adam Sandler (Dink the Clown), Kathy Griffin (Lucy), Paul Dooley (Owen Cheese), Robin Williams (Mime Jerry)

When Shakes the Clown was released in 1991, Betsy Sherman’s review in the Boston Globe famously referred to the film as “the Citizen Kane of Alcoholic Clown Movies.” While there are few other motion pictures vying for that title, in truth, Shakes the Clown isn’t the Citizen Kane of anything. “The Showgirls of Alcoholic Clown Movies” would be a more apt description. The picture is poorly constructed and amateurishly filmed, wasting comic possibilities at every opportunity. Still (warning: faint praise ahead), Shakes the Clown does generate sporadic laughs, and it is one of the more watchable bad movies.

The story is set in the jester Mecca of Palukaville, where birthday party clowns spend their down time boozing it up at the Twisted Balloon bar, beating up street mimes, and dreaming of hosting cartoon shows. The most talented of these dreamers is Shakes (Bobcat Goldthwait), a great children’s entertainer, but a bigger blackout drunk. When the unfunny, cokehead Binky the Clown (Tom Kenny) is awarded the coveted job as host of the local kiddie show, Shakes descends into a downward spiral of alcoholism and depression. Shakes’ buddies (Blake Clark and Adam Sandler) try to wean their friend off the bottle, but Shakes falls off the wagon and is fired in the process. Shortly thereafter, his boss (Paul Dooley) turns up dead, and Shakes has to take it on the lam, disguised as a mime. Can our hero pull it together and uncover the true culprit, or will he just get blotto once again?

Shakes the Clown was Bobcat Goldthwait’s first film as a writer/director, and it suffers from overreach and underwriting. The comedy has an interesting premise, and Goldthwait does a reasonably good job at bringing the world of Palukaville to life. Unfortunately, costumes and makeup do not a great comedy make. Goldthwait would have done better to scale back the design elements and spend more time punching up the script, because the laughs are thin and infrequent.

The cast (made up mainly of stand-up comics with little film experience) is fine; and Goldthwait, Brown, Clark, and Sandler often squeeze more humor out of their lines than the dialogue really warrants. However, funnyman Tom Kenny is wasted in the role of the villainous, unfunny Binky. By writing Binky as a clown devoid of a sense of humor, Goldthwait stripped the story of logic and the character of potential menace. It makes no sense that a television station would hire an unfunny clown to host their cartoon show. Binky would have posed more of a threat if he actually had strong comedy chops and if no one besides Shakes could see the darkness that lay beneath the surface.

Unfortunately, Binky is only one of the film’s many missed opportunities. Ripe comic situations (such as a country bar for rodeo clowns and a clown at an AA meeting) go absolutely nowhere. Still, enough booze and clown-related jokes hit the bullseye to warrant a mild recommendation for fans of soused cinema and bad movies in general.

Drinks Consumed--Beer (Braderbrau and others), bourbon, and scotch

Intoxicating Effects--Belching, vomiting, hangover, swearing, drunk driving, passing out, slurred speech, sneaking sips, public disturbance, destruction of property, jail time, and delirium tremens

Potent Quotables--DINK: The thing I don’t understand is why he just can’t drink normally like the rest of us. Ya know, he gets so out of control.
JUDY: Yeah.
STENCHY: Maybe it’s because he saw his father crushed to death by an elephant. A thing like that can scar you for life.
LUCY: He drinks so much to forget he’s a fucking alcoholic.

Video Availability--Shakes the Clown - Widescreen DVD (Sony)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--For better mix of laughs and vulgarity, check out Bad Santa (2003) instead.

Booze News: 2011 Silent Movies Calendar

2010-11-07T00:39:00.009-05:00

Christmas is just around the corner, and that means two things...

It will soon be time for your annual viewing of Bad Santa
It's time for my annual sales pitch for the Silent Movies Calendar

If you've been following this site for awhile, you probably already know that every year Rodney Sauer of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra produces a calendar featuring rare film stills and photographs of silent movie stars contributed by fans. In addition to a dozen beautiful photos in glorious black and white, the calendar also features birthdays of silent-era film stars and personalities, as well as notable marriages, deaths, film openings, and other significant dates. Best of all, the net proceeds made from the sale of the calendars (after printing expenses) are donated to support silent film restoration.

I've purchased the calendar for the past couple of years, and I'm especially looking forward to this year's release. That's because the 2011 Silent Movies Calendar is subtitled "The Swimsuit Issue." If you've ever wanted to see Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, and Gloria Swanson in 1920's swimwear, this is the calendar for you. Of course, there's also eye candy for the ladies--Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks--and a few eyesores (Mack Swain, for instance).

Rodney has been able to reduce the price of the calendar this year to $14.74 ($12 plus S&H), so supporting efforts to preserve our precious film heritage has never been more affordable. Follow the link below and get your Silent Movies Swimsuit Calendar today!

Get it here-->2011 Silent Movies Calendar

Cheers,
garv

Booze News: First ARTHUR, Now THE THIN MAN?

2010-10-30T00:36:00.024-05:00

Unoriginality is rampant in Hollywood, and it appears that the new target for motion picture remakes is classic soused cinema. First Spielberg planned to direct a retread of Harvey (1950), a project which eventually imploded. Then Russell Brand decided to step into the shoes of the late Dudley Moore to play the lovable lush Arthur Bach in an updated version of the 1981 classic. Now New York Magazine's Vulture blog is reporting that Johnny Depp wants Rob Marshall to direct him in a remake of The Thin Man (1934).

As much as I love Depp (especially his work in Ed Wood), I just don't see him as the urbane, drunky sleuth Nick Charles. Johnny will probably do a decent job, but if I was going to recast the William Powell part for the 21st Century, Robert Downey Jr. seems better suited to the role. Still, why tamper with a classic? Trying to recreate the William Powell/Myrna Loy chemistry with another pair of actors seems a near impossible task. It certainly didn't work with the short-lived 1957 Thin Man TV show or the 1990 Broadway musical Nick & Nora (which ran a whole 9 performances).

Of course, if Johnny Depp wants to do it, he has the clout to make the movie happen. But even if the project does get off the ground, it may be several years before it hits the multiplex. Depp has The Tourist, Rango, and The Rum Diary (based on the Hunter S. Thompson novel) in the can. He's currently filming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and there has been talk of him starring as Tonto in a new Lone Ranger film and as Barnabas Collins in a Tim Burton remake of Dark Shadows. Let's hope another property catches Johnny's fancy, so he'll leave Nick and Nora Charles alone.

Here's a link to the original Vulture post:
Johnny Depp wants Rob Marsall to direct him in a Thin Man remake

By the way, the post mentions that Dashiell Hammett never wrote a sequel to his novel, The Thin Man. That isn't strictly true. Hammett wrote the original stories for the first three Thin Man films, which screen writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett used as an outline. Hammett's story, After the Thin Man, has even been published in The New Black Mask, Nos. 5 and 6.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)

2010-10-17T15:17:00.019-05:00

USA/B&W-81m./Dir: John Ford/Wr: Dudley Nichols & Lamar Trotti/Cast: Will Rogers (Dr. John Pearly), Anne Shirley (Fleety Belle), John McGuire (Duke), Berton Churchill (New Moses), Francis Ford (Efe), Irvin S. Cobb (Captain Eli), Eugene Pallette (Sheriff Rufe Jeffers), Stepin Fetchit (Jonah)

Fame is indeed fleeting. In the 1920’s and 30’s, Will Rogers was one of the best known and most loved American personalities. He charmed audiences with his rope tricks, witticisms, and homespun political satire (think Jon Stewart with a touch of Jeff Foxworthy); and he rose to entertainment’s highest ranks in vaudeville, on Broadway, as a newspaper columnist, and eventually in the movies. Between 1918 and 1935, Rogers starred in 40 feature films and dozens of short subjects; and his movies were so popular that theater owners named him the number one box office attraction in 1933. Yet today his films are virtually unwatched and unremembered.

In recent years, a handful of Rogers features have been released in DVD boxsets, allowing new audiences to discover the comedian. Amongst these releases is Rogers’ penultimate film, Steamboat Round the Bend, which turns out to be more alcohol-fueled than the riverboat comedies of W.C. Fields, Tillie and Gus (1933) and Mississippi (1935). The film, set in the early 1900’s, stars Rogers as Doctor John Pearly, a dealer of extremely alcoholic patent medicine. Doc decides to give up the booze-pushing business and buys a rundown steamboat, which he fixes up with the help of an engineer (Francis Ford) who is addicted to Pearly’s potent brew. Pearly bets his fixed-up tub against the best steamboat on the Mississippi in a winner-take-all race, but he gets sidetracked when his nephew Duke (John McGuire) is sentenced to hang for murder. With the help of Duke’s betrothed, Fleety Belle (Anne Shirley), Doc searches the river for the one witness who can prove that Duke isn’t guilty, a prohibitionist preacher who calls himself “The New Moses.” Can Doc and Fleety Belle save Duke from execution in time to win the big steamboat race? What do you think?

Audiences of the Thirties were drawn to Steamboat Round the Bend due to Will Rogers’ celebrity (and due to morbid curiosity, as the film was released after Rogers’ unexpected death in a plane crash), but the movie is of most interest to film scholars today because it was directed by John Ford. Although Ford was not a filmmaker noted for producing comedies, the film has a pleasant, easygoing style that meshes well with Rogers’ homespun humor. This was actually the third film Rogers and Ford made together, and the partnership would have likely continued if not for Rogers’ untimely death.

While the film is a good introduction to Rogers’ relaxed comic delivery, it is far from his best film. The movie is overstuffed for an 81-minute comedy, containing con-man patter, liquor-laced humor, murder, a few musical numbers, possible execution, revivalist preachers, and a big boat race. Modern audiences may also be turned off by stereotypical depiction of African-Americans, especially the character of Jonah, portrayed by Stepin Fetchit. However, it is important to remember that Will Rogers was fairly progressive for his day; and he insisted that Stepin Fetchit be hired as a supporting actor in his movies because they were good friends from his vaudeville days.

Will Rogers’ comedies may seem a little too laid back for today’s audiences, but if you come to Steamboat Round the Bend in the proper frame of mind, you’ll find plenty to like. Especially fun are Francis Ford (the director’s brother) as the constantly inebriated steamboat engineer and the film’s climactic steamboat race, in which booze is used to win the day.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey-based patent medicine, rum, and Mint Julep

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering and slurred speech

Potent Quotables--NEW MOSES: Raise your right hand and take the pledge. Brother, what do I see in your hand? Don’t be a hog. Cast the enemy away! Bury demon rum in the waters of the mighty Mississippi! Fling it away, I say! I swear henceforth, liquor shall never touch my lips.
EFE: Me too.

Video Availability--DVD, as part of either the Will Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 or the Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford's American Comedies (Fox)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--W.C. Fields also got involved in a riverboat race in Tillie and Gus (1933).

Booze News: Add some alcohol to the National Film Registry

2010-10-01T23:15:00.033-05:00

Alcohol has made an invaluable contribution to the history of American film. However, soused cinema is terribly underrepresented in the National Film Registry, the list of motion pictures selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. Now is your chance to change that!

Each year the board selects up to 25 films to add to the list, and amongst the factors that they weigh when selecting the films are suggestions from the general public.

You have until October 15th to forward your film recommendations to:
dross@loc.gov

The only conditions regarding the your suggestions are:

Each film must be at least 10 years old
It should be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”
You can recommend no more than 50 titles in a single year

Let's stuff the ballot boxes with alky-centric titles!!!

There are dozens of "booze movies" that can be considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Every major movie genre and trend from the silent era to the present day has in some way been tied to strong drink. Silent soused slapstick, Prohibition gangster films, champagne-soaked screwball comedies, film noir, Westerns, soapy melodramas, 60’s swinger and spy cinema, antihero movies and angry young men films, and modern-day gross-out comedies all have one thing in common--liquor. Without alcohol, the history of film would be dramatically different.

Here are a handful of significant booze movies that should be in the National Film Registry. Please join my campaign to vote for these important soused cinema landmarks:

One A.M. (1916) - Charlie Chaplin's solo tour de force and the culmination of the drunken slapstick that he developed from his "Mumming Birds" stage act through his numerous liquor-laced Keystone and Essanay short subjects.

The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) - Not only the funniest short subject ever produced. It's also a filmed record of W.C. Fields' "Stolen Bonds" stage sketch and a comedy that was far ahead of its time. The Fatal Glass of Beer was post-modern before the term existed.

It's A Gift (1934) - The only film that rivals The Bank Dick (already inducted into the Registry) as W.C. Fields' greatest film. It contains one of the longest sustained laugh sequences in the history of motion pictures--the immortal "front porch" scene.

The Lost Weekend (1945) - Prior to The Lost Weekend, alcoholism was portrayed as comedy relief or as the "shame of the nation." This was the first film to look at alcoholism seriously as a disease. This much-imitated film still packs a punch today.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) - Mike Nichols' film adaptation of Edward Albee's play was one of the first films to buck the old Production Code. The MPAA film rating system underwent changes as a direct result of this foul-mouthed work of art.

The Iceman Cometh (1973) - A great American film of a great American play! The Iceman Cometh is the best of the movies produced under the experimental banner of the American Film Theatre.

Recommend one or all of these, but join my campaign to get national recognition for these trailblazing soused cinema classics.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

2010-09-24T22:33:00.022-05:00

USA/C-127m./Dir: Baz Luhrmann/Wr: Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce/Cast: Ewan McGregor (Christian), Nicole Kidman (Satine), John Leguizamo (Toulouse-Lautrec), Jim Broadbent (Harold Zidler), Richard Roxburgh (The Duke), Jacek Koman (The Narcoleptic Argentinean), Kylie Minogue (The Green Fairy)

No drink has been subject to more misinformation and unwarranted vilification than absinthe. In the early 1900’s, the forces of Prohibition and the competing French wine industry spread rumors that absinthe was poisonous, hallucinogenic, and unnaturally addictive. The propaganda stuck, and absinthe was banned in most countries until the last decade. However, in truth, absinthe is simply an herbal spirit distilled from aniseed, fennel seed, and wormwood. It is no more dangerous than any other hard alcohol.

In recent years, the truth about absinthe has begun to surface and most of the bans have been lifted. Curious drinkers can once again enjoy the spirit through the traditional louching method (water added slowly, usually over a sugar cube to slightly sweeten the drink) or as an essential ingredient in many classic cocktails. Unfortunately, the new century has been just as cruel to absinthe as it has been kind, in that the beverage has been irrevocably linked with Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 musical crap-tacular Moulin Rouge!

If modern drinkers think of absinthe at all, it is likely in relation to the instantly iconic “I’m the Green Fairy” scene from Moulin Rouge! In the film, Christian(Ewan McGregor), a naïve writer, settles in the Montmartre district of Paris and falls in with a group of bohemians, led by Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo). The ragtag band of artists and musicians not only rope the young poet into writing a musical production for the Moulin Rouge cabaret; they also introduce the innocent to absinthe. In the film, hallucinations beset Christian as soon as he takes his first taste. He imagines that the fairy illustrated on the label of the bottle comes to life. At first, the animated pixie (Kylie Minogue) allures the writer by dancing suggestively, and then she bedevils him with more dizzying visions. Not only does the film propagate the hallucinatory myths surrounding absinthe; it also depicts the bohemians preparing the drink incorrectly (fire was never a part of the traditional louching method).

Of course, you probably wonder what I think of the film beyond the inaccurate depiction of absinthe and its effects. In truth, I try to think about it as little as possible. The film is god-awful. Sure it’s pretty to look at, for two seconds at a time--because that is the longest the editor chooses to hold a shot--but story-wise and musically it’s anemic. The characters are barely one-dimensional, the narrative is pure melodrama, and the stabs at humor (punctuated by cartoon sound effects) are embarrassing.

It must be said that Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman have pleasant singing voices and a few of the musical mash-ups are somewhat clever. However, for every pop song that is repurposed well in Moulin Rouge! (such as Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” and the “Love” medley) there are twice as many that are cringe-inducing (the uses of “Like a Virgin” and “Roxanne” are especially nauseating); and the recycling of familiar show tunes (such as “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “The Sound of Music”) make you wish you were watching better films that came before.

Lovers of good movies are advised to stay far away from Moulin Rouge! I’d recommend visiting The Wormwood Society and finding a good absinthe to sample instead.

Drinks Consumed--Absinthe, Champagne, and various wines

Intoxicating Effects--Melancholy, harmonizing, seeing things, and bickering

Potent Quotables--CHRISTIAN: It was the perfect plan. I was to audition for Satine, and I would taste my first glass of absinthe.
FAIRY: I’m the Green Fairy.

Video Availability--DVD and Blu-ray (20th Century Fox)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--José Ferrer starred in John Huston’s Toulouse-Lautrec biopic, Moulin Rouge (1952).

Absinthe: History in a Bottle
Bonnecaze & Cie Absinthe Glass
Bonnecaze & Cie Wormwood Leaf Absinthe Spoon No:15
Bonnecaze & Cie Glass 2 Spout Absinthe Fountain

Booze News: Don't miss BOARDWALK EMPIRE

2010-09-19T22:13:00.011-05:00

Preview Trailer #4

While it isn't exactly a movie, Boardwalk Empire is the most enthralling soused cinema entertainment that has been produced so far this year. The first episode of HBO's new 1920's Prohibition gangster drama premiered this evening, and I can't wait for the second episode. In terms of writing (The Sopranos' Terrance Winter), direction (Martin Scorsese) , acting (Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephan Graham, the great Dabney Coleman, and many, many more), and production design, the show easily bests Hollywood's recent theatrical output.

Like the late, lamented Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire promises to be appointment television, until HBO eventually decides it's too expensive to produce. Until that inevitable day, I highly encourage soused cinema enthusiasts to tune in and support the best that TV has to offer.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Pay Day (1922)

2010-09-05T17:52:00.025-05:00

USA/Silent/B&W-26m./Dir: Charles Chaplin/Wr: Charles Chaplin/Cast: Charles Chaplin (Laborer), Phyllis Allen (His Wife), Mack Swain (Foreman), Edna Purviance (Foreman’s Daughter); Syd Chaplin (Charlie’s Friend & Lunch Cart Owner); Henry Bergman (Drinking Companion)

When critics discuss Charlie Chaplin’s best work, they usually mention the twelve classic shorts that he created under his 1916-1917 contract with Mutual Studios (including One A.M. and The Immigrant) and the later features that he made as an independent producer with United Artists (The Gold Rush, City Lights, etc.). The short subjects that Chaplin produced for First National Pictures between those two golden eras (1918-1923) are largely ignored. That does a great disservice to Chaplin’s First National output; because the best of those films--A Dog's Life (1918), The Idle Class (1921), Pay Day (1922), and The Pilgrim (1923)--match or surpass the quality of the Mutual shorts and are amongst the best work the comedian ever produced.

Pay Day (1922) is a banquet for lovers of soused slapstick. The short begins with Charlie arriving late for work on the construction site of a multi-level building. The foreman (Mack Swain) quickly puts the tardy laborer to work catching and stacking bricks on the second floor of the structure. As the workmen below pitch bricks in the air, Charlie catches the missiles in increasingly difficult positions (achieved through the simple special effect of running the film backwards). A short lunch break interrupts this acrobatic act, and Charlie (who didn’t bring his own lunch) manages to swipe the other employee’s meals through the aid of several well-choreographed elevator gags. After more brick stacking, Charlie receives his pay, a portion of which he hides from his battle-axe of a wife (Phyllis Allen), so he can go out drinking.

The second half of the short consists of the aftermath of an evening of drunken debauchery. Charlie and several of his work companions stagger out of the “Bachelor’s Club” and say their goodbyes before heading for home. This includes bickering over world affairs, a chorus of “Sweet Adeline,” getting tangled up in each others coats, and confusing Charlie’s cane for an umbrella. When it at last the men part, Charlie is so lubricated that he mistakenly hops on a lunch wagon, taking it for his streetcar home. This extended drunk sequence proves that, even after producing dozens of booze-fueled short subjects, Chaplin still found intoxication to be one of the most reliable themes from which to develop original comedy.

Pay Day might not rank with The Immigrant (1917) and A Dog's Life (1918) as one of the top ten shorts that Chaplin ever produced, but it would rank very near the top of the remainder of the list. It may be second-tier Chaplin; but it is a solid laugh-getter that is more inventive than the best films of most other comedians.

Drinks Consumed--Unknown (consumed offscreen)

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, stumbling, slurred speech, hiccups, bickering, and harmonizing

Potent Quotables--CHARLIE (SLURRED TITLE CARD): Where’s Christen-z-zen street?

Video Availability--The First National shorts have received a couple of major DVD releases, first from Image and later by Warner Home Video. If possible, try to get the out-of-print, original Image DVD which features the shorts as they were originally released in the 1920’s. The Warner Brothers release features the re-cut versions that Chaplin released in the 1970’s. Some of these re-cut versions have less footage, and others are stretch-printed to run a sound projection speed, which gives the video a staggered, unnatural look that ruins the timing of the comedy. Warner also did a poor job of transferring these inferior versions. The films are framed incorrectly, they play at the wrong frame speed, and the picture quality is poor due to PAL-conversion.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Chaplin continued to use soused slapstick after he jumped from short subjects to feature films, most notably in his masterpiece, City Lights (1931).

The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion
Unknown Chaplin: The Master at Work (DVD)
Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema

Review: The Living Wake (2007)

2010-08-29T16:02:00.021-05:00

USA/C-92m./Dir: Sol Tryon/Wr: Mike O’Connell & Peter Kline/Cast: Mike O’Connell (K. Roth Binew), Jesse Eisenberg (Mills Joaquin), Jim Gaffigan (Lampert Binew), Ann Dowd (Librarian), Eddie Pepitone (Reginald), Marla (Diane Kagan)

Take one part Wes Andersonian whimsy, a couple of parts British absurdism (in the mode of Sir Henry at Rawlinson End), add a dash of Withnailesque melancholy, shake vigorously, and the resulting cocktail might end up something like The Living Wake. This bizarre indie comedy stars Mike O’Connell as K. Roth Binew, a self-proclaimed artist and dedicated drunkard, who is dying of a yet-to-be-named disease that is extremely punctual. With the help of his best friend, manservant, and biographer, Mills Joaquin (Jesse Eisenberg), Binew uses his final day to visit friends, enemies, lovers, family, and the village liquorsmith, in hopes of finding the meaning of life that has thus far eluded him. During each visit, the individuals who have played a part in the short existence of the dying dipsomaniac also receive an invitation to attend Binew’s final bow--a wake to be held during the last minutes of his life.

It is difficult to maintain a comic premise over a ninety-plus minute running time, and absurdist comedy is even more difficult to sustain. So, as one would expect, there are problems with The Living Wake. The writing is uneven, some of the characters seem miscast, and the acting styles of some of the secondary actors clash with the material. Worst of all, what should be the high points of the film--two instances in which the main character bursts into song--are instead the movie’s nadir, because the lyrics of the songs are uninspired, lacking the polish and verbal wit that is present throughout the rest of the script. However, these are trifling quibbles, because The Living Wake is insanely entertaining.

What makes the movie work so wonderfully well, despite its deficiencies, is the brilliant lead performance by Mike O’Connell. There are comedians that say funny things and others that say things funny. While the script, co-written by O’Connell and Peter Kline, is often quite clever, O’Connell falls more in the latter category. With his original, cheerily bombastic delivery, he manages to sell the best and weakest punch lines with equal aplomb. Consequently, when O’Connell is on screen, which is nearly the entirety of the running time, the movie never lags.

It should also be noted… no, that is too weak a word. It should also be shouted from the hilltops that K. Roth Binew is the most original and engaging comic creation to grace the screen since Paul Reubens created Pee Wee Herman. Binew is a bourbon-guzzling drunkard, an egotist, a failed artist, a bit of a con man, an old lady fetishist, and a dandy. However, despite his cartoonishness and moral shortcomings, the character is also relatable in his search for meaning, his remorse over his artistic failures, and his attempts to connect with friends and family. It is rare that an absurdist character can engender pathos, but Binew is an exception. One can only hope that Mike O’Connell finds a way to resurrect this captivating persona for future projects.

Of course, as good as O’Connell and his comic creation are, there are supporting players that also deserve praise. First among these is Jesse Eisenberg, in the less showy role of Binew’s companion, Mills Joaquin. His timid, understated delivery is a perfect compliment to O’Connell’s bombast. In addition, the cinematography by Scott Miller provides a beautiful, golden, autumnal setting for the story; and the score by Carter Little and O’Connell provides the perfect background. Finally, first time director, Sol Tryon, does a fantastic job of balancing numerous disparate elements and helps O’Connell and Eisenberg sell the jokes.

The Living Wake is likely to split audiences into “love it” or “hate it” categories. However, if you have a tolerance for whimsy and a taste for the absurd, I highly recommend sampling this potent, intoxicating concoction.

Drinks Consumed--Stubborn Grouse Bourbon and other whiskeys, Schnapps, wine, and beer

Intoxicating Effects--Melancholy, increased libido, soused sex, and harmonizing

Potent Quotables--K.ROTH BINEW: Mills, a quote from my father, “I drink to bring myself down to the level of the common man. But remember, the common man drinks, so I must drink twice as much. I’m a big advocate of an even playing field.”

Video Availability--DVD and Video-on-Demand (Breaking Glass Pictures)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Absurdist comedy often works better in small doses, as evidenced by the hilarious short subject, The Reeducation of Mills Joquin, which portrays the beginning of the friendship between K. Roth Binew and Mills (here portrayed by Bryan Brown). This 19-minute short is included on the DVD of The Living Wake.

Official Website of The Living Wake

The Living Wake on Facebook

Breaking Glass Pictures

Booze News: Withnail and W.C. on DVD

2010-08-21T22:01:00.015-05:00

No sooner do I proclaim Flicker Alley's Chaplin at Keystone to be the soused cinema DVD release of the year than I hear about the upcoming releases of two more essential videos for lovers of alcohol-related films. In terms of importance, these releases do not quite rise to the same level as Chaplin at Keystone, but both provide timeless liquor-laced laughs that stand up to repeated viewings. Here's what we're getting:

First on August 24th, Withnail and I (1987), one of the booziest movies of all time makes it way to Blu-Ray from Image Entertainment. The film was previously released on DVD by Criterion, but true soused cinema enthusiasts will want to experience the ravages of alcohol on the countenances of Withnail and his flatmate in glorious 1080P resolution.

Next on November 2nd, Universal will release Mississippi (1935), the best of the W.C. Fields features previously unavailable in the U.S., as part of the Universal Backlot DVD boxset, The Bing Crosby Collection. Also included in this set will be College Humor (1933), We’re Not Dressing (1934), Here Is My Heart (1934), Sing You Sinners (1938), and Welcome Stranger (1947); but the 1935 pairing of Der Bingle and the Great Man is the real standout of the collection.

By the way, U.K. readers or those with region-free DVD players may be aware that Mississippi was previously released in the Region 2 DVD box set, W.C. Fields: The Movie Collection, along with 16 other classics from the Great Man. Most of those movies are available in the U.S. within the highly recommended W.C. Fields Comedy Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. At this point, only If I Had a Million (1932), Million Dollar Legs (1932), Tillie and Gus (1933), and Follow the Boys (1944) remain unavailable as Region 1 DVDs.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that Universal will put out a W.C. Fields Comedy Collection Vol. 3 to complete the U.S. releases. Come on, Universal! Do ya know how hard it is to hold a drink with your fingers crossed?

Cheers,
garv

Review: Animals, Whores, and Dialogue: Breakfast with Hunter Vol. 2 (2010)

2010-08-14T17:54:00.010-05:00

USA/C-91m./Dir: Wayne Ewing/Cast: Hunter S. Thompson (Himself), Anita Thompson (Herself), Warren Zevon (Himself), Sheriff Bob Braudis (Himself), Jennifer Erskine (Herself), Ed Bradley (Himself)

With the 2003 documentary, Breakfast with Hunter, Wayne Ewing shared a small portion of the hundreds of hours of video that he shot of his friend Hunter S. Thompson during the last two decades of the great writer’s life. The film was a patchwork quilt, that allowed fans of the journalist’s prose to eavesdrop on the writer as he relaxed in his Woody Creek home, reminisced with friends and collaborators about some his best writing assignments, and consulted (at times reluctantly) on the movie version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Ewing’s documentary provided a rare glimpse of the real Hunter S. Thompson (warts and all), rather than the self-created caricature and icon of overindulgence, Raoul Duke.

Since Wayne Ewing followed up on Breakfast with Hunter with two documentaries that touched upon Thompson’s world without focusing on the writer himself--When I Die (2005) and Free Lisl: Fear & Loathing in Denver (2006)--it was only natural to assume that the documentarian had used up the best footage of Hunter in his first film. However, Ewing has proven us wrong with the release of a sequel, Animals, Whores, and Dialogue: Breakfast with Hunter Vol. 2, which is just as delightful and illuminating as the 2003 original.

The title of the new film comes from the words of inspiration that Hunter taped to the top of his electric typewriter--ANIMALS * WHORES * DIALOGUE * ELECTRICITY--and the doc is framed around a November 16, 2003 writing session in Hunter’s home, in which he consumes copious quantities of Chivas Regal Scotch, while bouncing ideas off his wife and others in the room. The opportunity to witness one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century hunting and pecking on his typewriter is enough to recommend the movie. However, the sequel is just as loosely constructed as the original; and we quickly leave Owl Farm to enjoy precious footage of Hunter attending parties honoring him and his work, sharing behind-the-scenes stories with interviewers, comparing the relative evils of Richard M. Nixon and George W. Bush, and lighting up visibly when hearing someone read a particularly well-turned phrase from one of his articles.

Like Breakfast With Hunter, Animals, Whores, and Dialogue makes no attempt to provide a biographical background for the clips that it presents, so it is not recommended for viewers who are unfamiliar with Thompson’s life and work. However, for fans of the late, great Dr. Gonzo, Vol. 2 is just as essential viewing as the 2003 original. Let’s hope Wayne Ewing has even more treasures in reserve to give us a Vol. 3.

Drinks Consumed--Chivas Regal Scotch, wine, beer, and champagne

Intoxicating Effects--Pure orneriness

Potent Quotables--ED BRADLEY (a toast): Hunter, after all that fucking Chivas, man, there’s three-quarters of a bottle over there, ya know. And I really wish you were here to drink it. I understand why you did what you did. I miss you.

Video Availability--The DVD of Animals, Whores, and Dialogue: Breakfast With Hunter Vol. 2 and Wayne Ewing’s other HST documentaries can only be purchased directly from the director’s Website, Hunter Thompson Films (http://www.hunterthompsonfilms.com/)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Wayne Ewing has further explored the gonzo world of Hunter S. Thompson in Breakfast With Hunter (2003), When I Die (2005), and Free Lisle: Fear and Loathing in Denver (2006).

The Gonzo Tapes:The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Booze News: The Soused Cinema DVD Release of the Year!

2010-08-07T01:04:00.010-05:00

Good evening, fellow inebriates,

Tonight I bear glad tidings. Flicker Alley, one of the few DVD producers actively releasing restored silent films, has announced the October 26th release of Chaplin at Keystone, a 4-DVD set featuring new restorations of the surviving 34 films (33 shorts and the feature Tillie's Punctured Romance) which Charlie Chaplin made during his first year in the movie business. These films are of immeasurable historical value, as they show the movies' first (and perhaps most-talented) megastar developing his beloved comedy character, while he simultaneously learns to act, write, and direct for the camera.

For lovers of soused cinema, this collection is also a treasure trove of sloshed slapstick. Throughout his career, Chaplin employed drunken shtick to generate laughs, but booze was most prominent in his earliest films, being that he entered the medium flush from the stage success of his "Mumming Birds" drunk act.

While many of the Keystone shorts have been released previously on budget DVDs, they have been shoddy affairs, with ragged prints, missing footage, and scenes assembled out-of-order. The Flicker Alley set promises to be a revelation for Chaplin fans. As their press release states, "With the support of Association Chaplin (Paris), 35mm full aperture, early-generation materials were gathered over an eight year search on almost all the films from archives and collectors around the world, and were painstakingly pieced together and restored by the British Film Institute National Archive, the Cineteca Bologna and its laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata in Italy, and Lobster Films in Paris."

I, for one, can't wait to see these improved videos, despite the fact that it will mean that I will likely have to go back and revise my prior reviews of several Keystone shorts. That should prove to be a very pleasurable labor.

While five months still remain in 2010, I can say without doubt that this will be the most important soused cinema video release of the year. I strongly encourage lovers of booze movies (and film in general) to visit Flicker Alley's Website and pre-order this glorious release.

If you need more convincing, here's a link to the press release-->Chaplin At Keystone, an international collaboration of 34 original films

Cheers,
garv

Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp
The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion
Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema

Booze News: Tales of the Cocktail 2010 Recap

2010-08-01T11:35:00.022-05:00

I've been back from Tales of the Cocktail 2010 for a week now, and I truly know what it means to miss New Orleans. It was my first trip to both the Tales event and the city. I would recommend both without reservation.

My panel, "Hollywood Cocktails: Louisiana Style" was sold out; and any trepidation I had about presenting melted away as the 200 in attendance greeted me and my soused cinema film clips with laughter and applause. Thanks, everyone, for making a Tales rookie feel welcome (and especially for laughing at my jokes)!

Another big "thank you" goes out to my fellow panelists, Cheryl Charming, Ted Haigh, and Alan Leonhard, for your onstage support. Finally, a huge note of gratitude to Adrian Marin, the apprentice team, and the serving staff for keeping things running smoothly behind the scenes and for keeping the audience sated with popcorn, Sazeracs (the official New Orleans cocktail), Absinthe Suissesses, and Hurricanes. We couldn't have done it without you!

There will be lots to remember from my first trip to Tales...

Complimentary cocktails at every turn
Buying a new Stetson fedora at Meyer the Hatter
Bacon and jalapeno-infused vodka
The "drink me" girls at the Beefeater Alice in Wonderland-themed opening reception
Moonshine with breakfast
Being beguiled by Doc Eason's slight of hand
The revolving Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone (alcohol and spinning may not be an ideal pairing)
X-rated dinner conversation at the Red Fish Grill
Coffee with Dutch Carmel flavored Van Gogh Vodka
Discovering that housekeeping left a bottle of lotion on my bedspread when making up the room (I wonder what they were trying to tell me)
Fried oysters on the half shell
Being fitted with a bib at Mr. B's Bistro (I'm a messy drinker). Another big "thank you" to Bruce Tomlinson of worldwidedrinks.com for pickin' up the tab.
Swingin' at Fritzel's European Jazz Club
Sharing barrel-aged tequila shots with Jim Beam's master mixologist Phil Raimondo
Sampling the green fairy at the Old Absinthe House
Feelin' a bit fuzzy Saturday and fixing myself up with Glaceau Vitamin Water (my new hangover cure)
Visiting Faulkner House Books
Being handed a new stainless steel hip flask pre-filled with Templeton Rye (my favorite) as I stepped out of an elevator
Closing out the event with the Jim Beam World Cocktail Excursion party
Winding down with a moonlit, rooftop swim
Trying to fit all the free booze bottles in my suitcase
Waiting to board my plane, as the ground crew filled the holes made by a lightning strike the craft encountered on the way into the NOLA airport

Most of all, I'll remember the people I met and the friendships that were forged--Cheryl, Doc, Phil, Bruce, Ted, Dan "barnonedrinks.com" Hutchinson, Beer Commissioner, Lisa "Applejack" Laird, and many more. See you all next year!

Cheers,
garv

Booze News: Garv's headed to NOLA

2010-07-20T22:28:00.005-05:00

Greetings fellow inebriates,

Tomorrow morning I leave for New Orleans and my first Tales of the Cocktail!

As I've mentioned previously, I'm moderating a "Hollywood Cocktails" seminar with co-presenters Cheryl Charming, Ted Haigh, and Alan Leonhard. We received word that the presentation is sold out, so I'll be speaking before 200 people. All I can say is "Humana, humana, humana... Chef of the Future!"

I'll be back next week (likely with a few photos from Tales), and also with a review of Wayne Ewing's newest Hunter S. Thompson documentary, Animals, Whores, and Dialogue: Breakfast with Hunter Vol. 2. In the meantime, wish me luck.

Cheers,
garv

Review: Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)

2010-07-11T14:14:00.016-05:00

USA/B&W-69m./Dir: Edward L. Cahn/Wr: Robert J. Gurney Jr & Al Martin/Cast: Steven Terrell (Johnny Carter), Gloria Castillo (Joan Hayden), Frank Gorshin (Joe Gruen), Lyn Osborn (Artie Burns), Raymond Hatton (Farmer Larkin)

When the subject of little green men from outer space arises, the picture that appears in many people’s minds is that of the imaginative (albeit floppy) alien costumes created for the low budget 1957 drive-in flick Invasion of the Saucer Men. The image of these critters is ingrained in pop culture; and for every one person that has actually watched the movie, hundreds more have seen promotional film stills or toys based upon the creature designs. As a result, it will take many by surprise to discover that Invasion of the Saucer Men is, in fact, a “booze movie.”

In what purports itself to be a “true story of a flying saucer,” an alien craft lands in the small town of Hicksburg (the first groaner joke of the movie), which leads to a memorable night for a young couple, the military, a promoter looking for easy money, a farmer, and a drunken bull. The couple (Carter and Hayden) are driving back from “Lover’s Point” with their headlights off, to slip past the angry farmer who owns the land, when their car hits something. That “something” turns out to be the body of a bulbous-headed alien. While the couple see the body as an unspeakable horror, Joe Gruin (Frank “the Riddler” Gorshin), a whiskey-slugging con man, sees the extraterrestrial corpse as his ticket to easy street. However, before Joe can put the body on ice, the remaining Saucer Men attack the hooched-up huckster with needle-like nails that inject pure alcohol. Joe’s heart gives out, and the aliens make it look like the kids hit the overdosed alky with their car. It’s up to the young lovers to clear their name and take out the extraterrestrial menace (with a little help from a beer-loving bull).

It’s hard to defend Invasion of the Saucer Men. The writing is subpar, the production values are shoddy, and the performances (with the exception of those of Gorshin and Osborn) are mediocre at best. It’s simply a bad movie-- typical of the teen-oriented cheapies that American International Pictures cranked out in the 50’s and 60’s. Yet, Invasion of the Saucer Men is an enjoyable time waster. Everyone involved seemed to understand that they were making a bad film, and the film has a lighthearted, jokey atmosphere that makes it more engaging than many better-made 50’s sci-fi flicks.

There are even greater pleasures to be had for fans of soused cinema. For a science fiction film, Invasion of the Saucer Men is strangely liquor-centric. The teens at “Lover’s Point” are as engrossed in chugging cans of beer as they are in necking, the farmer’s prize bull is constantly seeking discarded beer cans to get his buzz on, and Gorshin’s character repeatedly downs slugs off his flask-sized whiskey bottle. Most significantly, the alien’s weapon of choice is alcohol, bringing a new meaning to the term “dead drunk.”

While Paul Blaisdell’s alien costume designs are the most significant aspect of Invasion of the Saucer Men, the film itself contains plenty of pleasures for both fans of cheesy, low-budget fare and soused cinema enthusiasts. Of course, your enjoyment of the film may be improved by knocking a few back yourself.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey, beer, and alien venom

Intoxicating Effects--Slurred speech, hiccups, belching, and death

Potent Quotables--ARTIE: Wow, whatta buzz I got on. Is this some kind of a gag?
JOAN: But how, Johnny?
JOHNNY: Just like his roommate. Do ya get it, Joan? Acute alcoholism. These monsters kill their victims by sticking them with alcohol--pure alcohol!

Video Availability--Invasion of the Saucer Men has not been released on DVD in the U.S. However, if you own a region-free player, you can watch the PAL DVD that is available from Australia. An out-of-print VHS (Sony) was also previously released.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--If you think this film is bad, get a load of the color remake, The Eye Creatures (1965, a.k.a. Attack of the The Eye Creatures (sic)).

Booze News: Sequel to BREAKFAST WITH HUNTER available July 13th!

2010-07-10T21:47:00.004-05:00

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

The late, great Hunter S. Thompson would have been 73 on this upcoming July 18th, and this year his fans have a special reason to celebrate. Wayne Ewing, Hunter's trusted friend and video biographer, is releasing a sequel to his acclaimed documentary Breakfast with Hunter just in time for Dr. Gonzo's birthday.

While I haven't yet seen Wayne's new film, I've reviewed his previous HST documentaries, Breakfast with Hunter (2003), When I Die (2005), and Free Lisl: Fear & Loathing in Denver (2006), for "Booze Movies;" and I can recommend them all without reservation. Forget other Hunter S. Thompson documentaries. If you want to dive beneath the gonzo persona and experience the real man, Wayne's films are the only ones to see.

To receive Wayne's new film--Animals, Whores, and Dialogue: Breakfast with Hunter Vol. 2--in time for a HST birthday viewing, go to the director's Website and place your order today! There's also a discount deal available if you pick up all four of Wayne's HST docs at once. You can view a video snippet of the new film on Wayne's site, but trust me, all of the director's HST films are worth a blind buy!

Cheers,
garv

Review: Educating Rita (1983)

2010-06-13T15:22:00.011-05:00

UK/C-110m./Dir: Lewis Gilbert/Wr: Willy Russell/Cast: Michael Caine (Dr. Frank Bryant), Julie Walters (Susan “Rita” White), Michael Williams (Brian), Maureen Lipman (Trish), Jeananne Crowley (Julia), Malcolm Douglas (Denny)

“Slight” is the best word to describe the 1983 Pygmalion-esque dramedy, Educating Rita. It is a small film, made on a meager budget, based on a play for two actors on a single set. Yet despite all of its smallness, the film went on to garner three Academy Award nominations. That is because the one thing in Educating Rita that is not small is the considerable charm of its lead actors.

In her first motion picture, Julie Walters reprises her stage role as Susan White, a working-class Liverpool hairdresser who seeks to better herself through the tutelage of a burned-out, alcoholic literature professor (Michael Caine). When Susan enters the professor’s life, he has taken to getting plastered off the booze bottles hidden behind the volumes in his bookcase and showing up drunk for his lectures. Through the enthusiasm that Susan (or “Rita” as she initially calls herself) shows for literature, the professor begins to regain some of his love for teaching (while never abandoning his even greater love of the bottle). However, when Susan begins to blossom through the professor’s mentoring, both the teacher and student find their new world views a little difficult to endure.

Willy Russell adapted his own play in bringing Educating Rita to the screen, and it is a mixed blessing. The scenes between Caine and Walters in the professor’s office lose none of the lively, fresh interplay from the stage version. Unfortunately, the scenes set outside of the original confines of the play smack of theater-to-screen padding. The secondary characters, who are only mentioned in the play, are given life in the film, but they only exist to react to Caine or Walters. These side characters are simply caricatures--a writer’s idea of what stuffy university types and uneducated, working-class mopes are like--rather than creations of flesh and blood.

The film has a few other strikes against it. The author has a tendency to repeat his favorite jokes ad nauseum (enough with the “assonance” line already), and his central metaphor that “there must be better songs to sing” is cringe-inducing. While the script has its failings, it is a small liability in comparison with the truly god-awful synthesized soundtrack with which the movie has been saddled.

On the positive side, you have the two lead performances of Julie Walters and Michael Caine; and they are nearly good enough to make you forget the film’s flaws. Walters has the meatier part, in that her character evolves in attitude, manners, voice, and carriage as the film progresses. She is fully up to the challenge. The actress sparkles in her first film role; and despite her cinematic inexperience, her performance is never too broad or theatrical for the camera. Caine is equally good as the alky academic, pulling off sloshed sullenness and woozy giddiness with equal aplomb. His potted professor is one of the most memorable of cinema souses. For the lead performances alone, Educating Rita is worth a view.

Drinks Consumed--Scotch, bourbon, beer, and wine

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, staggering, slurred speech, stumbling, hiccups, harmonizing, and passing out

Potent Quotables--BRIAN: Frank, I wanted to mention this before we dine. It’s slightly embarrassing, but, uh, thing is, there’s been a bit of a complaint.
FRANK: Complaint, Brian?
BRIAN: Yes. Well, apparently you were a little… drunk at your tutorial today.
FRANK: No.
BRIAN: No?
FRANK: No. I was a lot drunk.
BRIAN: Oh, Frank. Why do you do it? When you’ve got--well, well, what haven’t you got?
FRANK: A drink at the moment.

Video Availability--DVD (Sony)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--For another alky mentor and protégée story, check out What Price Hollywood? (1932).

Off Topic: Help Ricky Gervais End Bullfighting

2010-06-07T17:56:00.013-05:00

Greetings fellow inebriates,

I usually stay away from off topic posts. However, I once attended a bullfight in Madrid (I didn't have a choice in the matter), and it was the most disgusting thing I ever experienced. Consequently, when I heard that Ricky Gervais had teamed with the World Society for the Protection of Animals to call for a end of this barbaric tradition, I felt obligated to pass along the news.

The people of Catalonia, one of the largest regions in Spain, have gather 180,000 signatures to force their Parliament to vote on a proposal to end the practice of bullfighting. While this is a Catalonian issue, and outsiders opinions are not officially recognized, it is important for their Parliament to know that the world at large supports the Catalonian people in their efforts to end the unnecessary suffering of animals. You can sign a petition to show your support at the following link: Time to say "Enough is enough"

I also read today that Ricky Gervais' new film, Cemetery Junction, will not be receiving a U.S. theatrical release. Bummer. This well-reviewed, coming-of-age dramedy, written and directed by Gervais and Stephen Merchant, was one of the films I was most looking forward to seeing this year. American audiences will have to be content with a DVD and Blu-ray release on August 17th.

While I have your ear, let me apologize for the dearth of reviews lately. Preparing for my presentation at Tales of the Cocktail has been eating up the time I normally devote to the site. I'll try to post a new review next weekend.

Cheers,
garv

Review: The Fixer Uppers (1935)

2010-05-23T14:39:00.012-05:00

USA/B&W-21m./Dir: Charles Rogers/Wr: Stan Laurel & Frank Tashlin/Cast: Stan Laurel (Stan), Oliver Hardy (Ollie), Mae Busch (Madam Pierre Gustave), Charles Middleton (Pierre Gustave), Arthur Housman (The Drunk)

The Fixer Uppers is an average Laurel and Hardy short greatly enlivened by the inebriated antics of Hollywood’s greatest character drunk, Arthur Housman. While Housman is not as central to this short as he was in his previous pairings with the boys, Scram! (1932) and The Live Ghost (1935), he steals every second of screen time he’s given from his co-stars. It is a credit to the temperaments of Stan and Ollie that they continued to work with a comic who consistently upstaged them.

As the film opens (in Paris of all places), Stan and Ollie are impoverished door-to-door salesmen hawking Christmas cards of their own creation. They first come to the apartment of a drunk (Arthur Housman) who is nursing a killer hangover with a tall glass of whiskey. Rather than turn the peddlers away, the genial juicer encourages them to read the sentiments from a few of their wares and eventually provides their first sale.

When Stan and Ollie try their luck at the apartment next door, they find a woman (Mae Busch) weeping due to the neglect of her artist husband (Charles “Ming the Merciless” Middleton). Stan comes up with a plan (never a good idea) to help the woman win back her husband’s affections by making him jealous. Unfortunately, when the artist finds his wife in Ollie’s arms, he challenges the rotund salesman to a duel. While Ollie reluctantly agrees to return at midnight to exchange pistol shots, he realizes over a beer with Stan that there is no reason to risk his life, because the artist has no way to find him. Unfortunately, fate in the form of Housman’s drunk eventually reunites Stan and Ollie with the jealous husband.

This was Laurel and Hardy’s penultimate short subject before they would devote their time entirely to feature-length comedies. While The Fixer Uppers is nowhere near their best work, it is brisk and amusing throughout, unlike many of their slow and padded features. The short features a few clever comic plot twists (especially the manner in which the boys end up reunited with Middleton); but the main reason to watch the movie is to see the comedy duo work with Housman. Housman’s comic reactions to the boy’s Christmas cards at the beginning of the film and his later scenes in a café attempting to get a bartender to serve him a “small big one” are the film’s comic highlights.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey and beer

Intoxicating Effects--Slurred speech, staggering, hiccups, soused sentiment, and passing out

Potent Quotables--OLLIE (to waiter): Two beers. What'll ya have?
STAN: I’ll have two beers too.
OLLIE: Just two beers.

Video Availability--You can find the short on DVD in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Holland, but it has not been officially released in the U.S. However, Hollywood's Attic provides a collector's copy in Laurel and Hardy Classic Shorts (Volume 6).

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Arthur Housman also provided comic support to Laurel and Hardy in Scram! (1932), The Live Ghost (1934), Our Relations (1936), and briefly in The Flying Deuces (1939).

Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies

Review: Chimes at Midnight (a.k.a. Falstaff, 1965)

2010-05-09T13:17:00.016-05:00

USA/B&W-115m./Dir: Orson Welles/Wr: Orson Welles (adapted from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I; Henry IV, Part II; Henry V; Richard II; and The Merry Wives of Windsor)/Cast: Orson Welles (Falstaff), Keith Baxter (Prince Hal), John Gielgud (Henry IV), Norman Rodway (Henry “Hotspur” Percy), Margaret Rutherford (Mistress Quickly), Jeanne Moreau (Doll Tearsheet), Fernando Rey (Worcester)

Orson Welles always wanted to be a popular artist. Unfortunately, while the “artist” part came easy to him, he always found the “popular” part elusive. True art is rarely popular; and when it came to creating art, Welles just couldn’t help himself. He was doomed to be an unpopular artist from the start.

While Orson’s early films, such as Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) are justly celebrated today as movie masterpieces, most audiences (outside of fervent film geeks) have not seen his later directorial efforts. This has led to an incorrect assumption that after a spurt of genius, Welles fell into artistic decline. In truth, the artist in Orson never declined. The only thing that declined was the budget with which he had to work. After a number of early box office duds, Orson often had to scrounge for money or finance his directing jobs himself. While these later pictures were produced on a shoestring and received scant theatrical releases, they are no less artistic than Kane. In fact, Welles considered his later works, The Trial (1962), Chimes At Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1973) to be his best; and of them Chimes at Midnight was the closest to his heart.

Chimes at Midnight is a Shakespeare film like no other. Rather than make a movie adaptation of a single play, as he had done with Macbeth (1948) and Othello (1952), Orson took bits and pieces from several of the bard’s history plays in which the supporting character of fat, drunken, boasting, cowardly, and lovable Sir John Falstaff appeared and cobbled them together into a single narrative. Welles’ transposition of Shakespeare’s storytelling proves to be just as effective as the bard’s original plays and suggests that the background action of the relationship between sherry-sodden Falstaff and Prince Hal is a deeper, more thoughtful story than that of the primary action of kings and crowns and war.

While much of the Welles’ film is assembled from the comedy relief scenes of Shakespeare’s history plays, the overarching mood of the picture is one of melancholy. The Prince of Wales enjoys his inebriated adventures with Falstaff, but he knows that eventually he will have to cast off the frivolities of his youth and the old reprobate along with it. Hal’s looming responsibilities and eventual rejection of Falstaff are foreshadowed throughout the film and darken even the most good-humored scenes. The themes of aging and death are also repeated throughout the film, as the title would suggest. With these dark devices, Welles makes Falstaff the saddest of clowns.

Like all Orson’s films, Chimes at Midnight is visually stunning and cleverly edited, despite its modest budget. In fact, the movie is most famous for its battle of Shrewsbury sequence, which is one of the most down and dirty war scenes ever committed to film. That muddy clash of men, horses, swords, and arrows has influenced numerous films that followed, including Kenneth Branaugh’s Henry V (1989) and Braveheart (1995).

Despite the visual splendor, it is Welles’ performance that is the most dazzling aspect of the film. While Falstaff is oversized in his mirth and his girth, Welles characterization never falls into caricature. He is equally believable jovially extolling the virtues of wine and heartbroken at the Prince’s rebuke. In fact, Welles’ wordless reaction to his banishment by his former friend is Orson’s greatest moment of acting on film. He simultaneously conveys unendurable grief and fatherly pride. The other cast members are excellent, particularly Norman Rodway as Hotspur, but they can’t match Welles’ full-formed embodiment of Sir John.

While the film occasionally suffers from its low budget, especially in terms of some sound-syncing issues, many critics consider Chimes at Midnight to be the greatest Shakespeare film ever made. It is certainly the most original and the booziest movie adapted from the bard’s plays. It is not to be missed.

Drinks Consumed--Sack (sherry) and ale

Intoxicating Effects--Boasting, staggering, the giggles, and public disturbance

Potent Quotables--FALSTAFF: A good sherris sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and curdy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and delectable shapes, which, delivered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; the sherris warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme. And hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile and bare land, manured, husbanded and tilled with excellent endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them would be this, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.

Video Availability--Due to legal wrangling over ownership, Chimes at Midnight has never been officially released on DVD in the States. However, there have been a few Region 2 DVD releases, including an out-of-print Studio Canal release that had pristine audio and video. However, Nostalgia Family Video (a.k.a Hollywood’s Attic) does produce a "collector's copy" on DVD in the U.S.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Welles stars as a crooked cop with a problem with the bottle in another of his directorial masterpieces, Touch Of Evil (1958).

Chimes at Midnight: Orson Welles, director (Rutgers Films in Print - Paperback)

Booze News: W.C. Fields Exhibit in NYC

2010-05-01T15:26:00.011-05:00

Attention East Coast Soused Cinema Enthusiasts!

On May 19th, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center will open an exhibition dedicated to the patron saint of booze movies, W.C. Fields. “The Peregrinations & Pettifoggery of W. C. Fields,” organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, draws on a remarkable trove of personal memorabilia including posters, photographs, publicity materials, letters, scripts, personal documents, artifacts, film clips, and sound recordings donated by family and friends of the Great Man. The exhibition will run through August 21st. Don't miss it!

In conjunction with the exhibit, selected films featuring the Great Man will be screened (including the rare silents So's Your Old Man and Running Wild). Here's the schedule:

June 1st at 2:30 p.m.
SALLY OF THE SAWDUST (1925)

June 8th at 2:20 p.m.
POOL SHARKS (1915)
SO'S YOUR OLD MAN (1926)
Accompaniment by Ben Model

June 15th at 2:30 p.m.
THE GOLF SPECIALIST (1930)
RUNNING WILD (1927)

June 22nd at 2:30 p.m.
THE DENTIST (1932)
YOU'RE TELLING ME (1934)

June 29th at 2:30 p.m.
IT'S A GIFT (1934)

July 6th at 2:30 p.m.
THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (1933)
THE BANK DICK (1940)

For more info, check out nypl.org and wcfields.com.

Cheers,
garv

Review: The Hangover (2009)

2010-04-18T17:20:00.011-05:00

USA/C-100m./Dir: Todd Phillips/Wr: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore/Cast: Bradley Cooper (Phil Wenneck), Ed Helms (Stu Price), Zach Galifianakis (Alan Garner), Justin Bartha (Doug Billings), Heather Graham (Jade), Ken Jeong (Mr. Chow), Mike Tyson (Himself)

Ninety-five years after Charlie Chaplin entered the movie business and fascinated audiences with his soused slapstick, The Hangover proved that liquor-laced humor is timeless by becoming the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. The “bachelor party gone awry” storyline concerns three groomsmen—irresponsible, fun-loving Phil (Bradley Cooper), harried and henpecked Stu (Ed Helms), and weirdo brother-in-law-to-be Alan (Zach Galifianakis)—who treat the groom, Doug (Justin Bartha), to a Las Vegas getaway before his wedding. Unfortunately, after an evening of drunken partying and outrageous hijinks, the groomsmen awake to find the groom has disappeared. With no memory of what took place the night before and only a day before the wedding, the three have to piece together the events of the previous evening from a variety of clues—an abandoned baby, a missing tooth, a tiger, a police car, a hospital bracelet, etc.-in order to find their missing buddy.

Is the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time the funniest R-rated comedy ever made? In a word, “no.” National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) and more recent laughers Bad Santa (2003) and Shaun of the Dead (2004) all contain bigger guffaws and more of them. The Hangover is a surprisingly sedate comedy, despite its over-the-top premise. On the whole, however, that’s a good thing. Todd Phillips’ earlier flicks such as Road Trip (2000) and Old School (2003) were uneven efforts that ranged from realistic, even subtle, comic moments to cartoony gross-out gags. In those movies, the broad jokes often fell flat. The Hangover has a more consistent, realistic tone; and while there are few laugh-out-loud moments, the characters, situations, and dialogue are chuckle-worthy throughout.

The film’s success is largely due to the performances of the three lead actors. Bradley Cooper does some of his best work as the slightly sleazy best man. Moreover, he holds up his end in the humor department, while sharing the screen with masterful sketch comedian Helms and brilliant stand-up Galifianakis. As one would expect, Helms and Galifianakis get most of the best lines and deliver them to perfection. However, their performances are much more than just “bringing the funny.” Both comedians manage to create three-dimensional characters that are believable and likeable, with a touch of pathos. While supporting actors such as Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Mike Epps, Rob Riggle, and Jeffery Tambor all add a little extra spice to the brew, the film is really a three man show; and the trio expertly shoulders the burden.

Overall, The Hangover may be a little less hilarious than its premise and reputation would lead you to believe. However, it is a well-crafted, flavorful cocktail that you will likely want to sample more than once.

Note--The wedding band at the end of the film is the “Dan Band,” featuring foul-mouthed wedding singer Dan Finnerty. The Dan Band previously appeared in Phillips’ earlier directorial efforts Old School (2003) and Starsky & Hutch (2004).

Drinks Consumed--Beer, Jagermeister, and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Hangover, memory blackouts, vomiting, drunk driving, and destruction of property

Potent Quotables--PHIL: (Toasting) To a night the four of us will never forget.

Video Availability--DVD and Blu-ray (Warner Brothers)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Phillips is scheduled to direct a sequel with all four leads, which will be released in 2011.

Video on Demand: The Hangover (Unrated)

Review: The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914)

2010-03-27T16:59:00.014-05:00

USA/Silent/B&W-12m./Dir: Charles Chaplin/Wr: Hugh Antoine d’Arcy & Charles Chaplin/Cast: Charles Chaplin (Artist), Cecile Arnold (Madeleine), Jess Dandy (The lover who stole her), Vivian Edwards (Model)

The reputation of the early Charlie Chaplin short The Face on the Bar Room Floor has been sullied over the years due to the condition of the existing film elements. Modern critics approaching the film for the first time are often confronted with ragged, incomplete prints with choppy images, missing or rewritten intertitles, and scenes assembled in the incorrect order. Naturally, the resulting reviews have been more harsh and dismissive than the film deserves. This is a shame, because The Face on the Bar Room Floor is one of the most ambitious and successful of the Keystone comedies that Chaplin produced during his first year in the movie business.

The Face on the Bar Room Floor was Chaplin’s first attempt at parody, satirizing a popular Hugh Antoine d’Arcy poem of the same name. The poem, which was well known to 1914 audiences, relays the story of a vagabond who enters a saloon and begs drinks off the barflies in exchange for telling the tale of how he was laid low. According to the drifter’s story, he was once a great artist, but he turned to drink after the girl he loved ran off with a fair-haired youth. After relaying the narrative, the vagabond sketches a picture of his beloved on the floor of the bar and falls upon it dead.

Chaplin’s parody of the maudlin ballad follows the narrative of the poem fairly closely, even using direct quotes from d’Arcy’s verses in the title cards. However, Chaplin’s reenactment of the familiar story exaggerates (and occasionally contradicts) the described actions for comic effect, ridiculing the source material and stripping it of all possible pathos. The vagabond of the poem is portrayed, of course, as Chaplin’s famous drunken tramp, belching, staggering, and stumbling as he downs drinks and imparts his weepy tale. For the flashbacks of the artist in his prime, Chaplin dresses in a full tuxedo. Not only does the costume amplify the height from which the vagabond fell to a ridiculous extent; it also allows Chaplin to mine the comic possibilities of a filthy artist’s studio, including distractedly dabbing his dressy duds with his paint brush and absentmindedly sitting on his paint palette.

As the title cards go on to describe the fair-haired boy who stole the artist’s love, we see instead a middle-aged, balding, rotund actor with a bushy, black mustache. Upon completing his sad story, Chaplin’s tramp attempts to draw a likeness of his lady love on the barroom floor like the vagabond of the poem, but in his lubricated condition, he can only manage a sloppy smiley face. He also collapses onto the drawing, but unlike the hero of the poem, he isn’t dead. He’s simply dead drunk.

While none of Chaplin’s work at Keystone is as brilliant or nuanced as the comedian’s later work, this early attempt at Mad Magazine-style* parody is both historically interesting and fairly amusing. It’s definitely better than its reputation would lead one to believe.

*Another parody of d’Arcy’s poem appeared in Mad #10, illustrated by Jack Davis and Basil Wolverton.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey and beer

Intoxicating Effects--Belching, staggering, stumbling, brawling, and passing out

Potent Quotables--TITLE CARD: “Give me a drink – that’s what I want.
I’m out of funds you know.
When I had funds to treat this gang,
This hand was never slow.”

Video Availability--The Face on the Bar Room Floor, like most of the public domain Keystone shorts, is available on numerous budget DVDs and as a free stream on the Internet. However, those videos are derived from badly decayed prints, with scenes obviously assembled in the wrong order. An effort is currently underway by the British Film Institute to restore all of the Chaplin Keystone shorts, so the Keystones will eventually be available on video in improved condition. In the meantime, the best available reconstruction of the short is available on YouTube and is embedded above.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Chaplin next got drunk with fellow comic Fatty Arbuckle in the Keystone classic, The Rounders (1914).

Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp
The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion
Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema

Booze News: Drunk History - Tesla & Edison

2010-03-20T15:16:00.005-05:00

Greetings, soused cinema enthusiasts,

I apologize for the lack of reviews lately. Your affable guide to alky-centric film has been struck by a monster cold. I did, however, feel it necessary to pull my ailing body from the comfort of couch to let you know that Drunk History has returned to HBO's Funny or Die Presents (a show that apart from the Drunk History segments has been much more "die" than "funny").

Last night's installment featured a history lesson on Tesla and Edison, narrated by Duncan Trussell after drinking a six-pack of beer and a half a bottle of absinthe. Nikola Tesla is portrayed by John C. Reilly and Thomas Edison is Crispin Glover. Check your listings or consult your DVR to catch the repeats.

Hopefully, I will return later in the week with a review of Charlie Chaplin's The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914). I the meantime, it's back to the couch (sniffle, cough, sniffle).

Cheers,
garv

Review: Moonshine County Express (1977)

2010-03-06T22:58:00.017-06:00

USA/C-110m./Dir: Gus Trikonis/Wr: Hubert Smith & Daniel Ansley/Cast: John Saxon (J.B. Johnson), Susan Howard (Dot Hammer), William Conrad (Jack Starkey), Morgan Woodward (Sweetwater), Claudia Jennings (Betty Hammer), Maureen McCormick (Sissy Hammer), Dub Taylor (Uncle Bill), Jeff Corey (Preacher)

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! If Moonshine County Express is remembered at all today, it is as one of the few big screen releases to feature Brady Bunch girl Maureen McCormick in a supporting role. That’s unfortunate; because McCormick’s vapid performance is the least interesting element in one of the more enjoyable entries in the 1970’s moonshine movie genre.

The film is a David versus Goliath story, with whiskey taking the place of the slingshot. When Pap Hammer, a minor league moonshiner, is murdered by his rich, well-connected rival, Jack Starkey (William Conrad), the small-timer’s daughters (Susan Howard, Claudia Jennings, and McCormick) are pressured to leave the county. The Hammer girls decide instead to stand up to Starkey, and they find just the right weapon in their pap’s secret stash of 90-proof, Prohibition-era, bonded whiskey. The girls undercut Starkey’s whiskey prices with the local merchants and provide higher quality booze to boot, so the big man’s business quickly dries up. When Starkey starts feelin’ the squeeze, he plans to slaughter the Hammer girls and steal their stash of primo whiskey. However, what Starkey doesn’t know is that his best driver (John Saxon) has switched sides and is in bed (figuratively and literally) with the girls.

While Moonshine County Express is no classic, it is an enjoyable time-waster that outshines most moonshine movies of the era in three areas:

1) The Script – While most of the 70's drive-in moonshine movies were merely variations on the insanely successful Thunder Road (1958), in which a speed demon drives circles around the feds and rival bootleggers, Moonshine County Express, focused instead on a trio of wronged women who take matters into their own hands. While John Saxon receives top billing as the typical lead-footed moonrunner, his character is secondary and weak-willed in relation to the ladies. The story is a welcome change to a stale formula.

2) The Cast – With the exception of the remarkably uncharismatic McCormick, the actors are far better than the material. The leads, Susan Howard and John Saxon, are never believable as hillbillies, but they give stronger performances than you usually find in a drive-in flick. However, the real fun is in watching A-list character actors, such as William Conrad, Dub Taylor, and Jeff Corey having a great time hamming it up.

3) The Booze – Moonshine movies are generally about driving booze rather than drinking it, but this is one film where the bootleggers actually enjoy their own product. While it would be going too far to say that this movie was soaked in corn liquor, it does at least get a little damp.

In short, Moonshine County Express is junk, but it is enjoyable junk. It may not go down as smoothly as prime, aged whiskey, but it ain’t rotgut either.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey (moonshine and bonded) and beer

Intoxicating Effects--Bad breath, staggering, and slurred speech

Potent Quotables--DOT: Well, ladies, here’s to our pap. (She downs a slug)
BETTY: Alright. That do it to ya?
DOT: Oh, that’s nice. That’s nice. (She passes the jar to Sissy) Have some.
SISSY: Mmmm. He sure did make good ‘shine.
DOT: ‘Shine? Honey, that ain’t 'shine. That’s real Prohibition bootleg.

Video Availability--Moonshine County Express was released long ago on VHS, but it has never officially been released on disc. However, Yammering Magpie Cinema has a full frame collector’s copy available on DVD. The video quality is on par with VHS, but you may have no other opportunity to check out this rarity. The DVD can be purchased on Yammering Magpie’s Website HERE.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Maureen McCormick starred in another drunken hillbilly drive-in flick, the unwatchable Texas Lightning (1981), directed by Gary Graver (the cinematographer of Moonshine County Express).

Moonshine County Express - Movie Poster - 27 x 40

Booze News: Tickets for Tales of the Cocktail are now available!

2010-03-06T10:18:00.005-06:00

Good morning, fellow inebriates,

As previously mentioned, your truly will be moderating "Hollywood Cocktails - Louisiana Style," a seminar at the upcoming Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans on July 23rd. Ticket packages are now available for the fest (July 21-25) at the following link:

http://www.talesofthecocktail.com/tickets

Perhaps I'll see you there.

In the meantime, I will return later this weekend with a review of the 1977 drive-in flick, Moonshine County Express.

Cheers,
garv

Booze News: The Return of Drunk History

2010-02-21T10:59:00.012-06:00

Drunk History: Douglass & Lincoln (Starring Will Ferrell & Don Cheadle) from FODPresents

The day we've hoped for has finally arrived! Well, actually it's passed, but no matter. Drunk History is back!

As part of the premiere episode of HBO's sketch comedy show, Funny or Die Presents, there was a new drunk history lesson on the meeting of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. As with past Drunk History films, the historic events are enacted by recognizable actors, in this case Don Cheadle (Douglass), Will Ferrell (Lincoln), and Zooey Deschanel (Mrs. Lincoln). And once again, the history value is dubious, but the alcohol content is high.

Previous Drunk History videos have been available in full length on the Funny or Die Website. Unfortunately, only a taste of the new short has appeared online (embedded above). If you want to see the entire short, you'll have to tune into Funny or Die Presents on HBO. The premiere episode will be repeated several times beginning Tuesday, so check your listings or set your DVR.

By the way, the Douglass and Lincoln short recently won a jury prize for short filmmaking at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Another Drunk History short, Tesla and Edison, starring John C. Reilly and Crispen Glover was also entered in the competition, so that short will likely turn up on a future episode of Funny or Die Presents.

For our coverage of the earlier Drunk History shorts, click HERE.

Booze News: Find Booze Movies on Facebook

2010-02-20T21:26:00.014-06:00

Greetings once again, fellow inebriates,

The wheels of progress are constantly spinning, and Booze Movies is spinning right along with them (although I imagine that the spins are due at least in part to the whiskey). Nonetheless, today Booze Movies has joined the social networking revolution (huzzah). You can now find us on Facebook.

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garv

Review: W.C. Fields and Me (1976)

2010-02-15T12:18:00.017-06:00

USA/C-111m./Dir: Arthur Hiller/Wr: Bob Merrill/Cast: Rod Steiger (W.C. Fields), Valerie Perrine (Carlotta Monti), John Marley (Studio Head Bannerman), Jack Cassidy (John Barrymore), Billy Barty (Ludwig), Allan Arbus (Gregory LaCava), Dana Elcar (Agent Dockstedter)

“You don’t think a man would resort to taradiddle, do you?”
--W.C. Fields as Egbert Souse in The Bank Dick (1940)

W.C. Fields often resorted to taradiddle when relaying the story of his life. He was always more interested in telling an engaging story and getting a good laugh than in sticking strictly to the facts. Consequently, it wasn’t surprising that when a biopic of the Great Man was produced that it would bend the truth a little. However, not content to simply bend the truth, the producers of W.C. Fields and Me, twisted the truth into knots, locked it in a trunk, shot it full of holes, ran it over, and left it bleeding on the side of the road. Based loosely on the discredited and self-serving memoir of Fields’ mistress, Carlotta Monti, W.C. Fields and Me is almost entirely a work of fiction. Worse yet, it is a drab, uninteresting work of fiction that contains none of the Great Man’s flair for humor or for spinning a good yarn.

The film skips Fields’ childhood and his years on the vaudeville circuit as an eccentric juggler and begins when the comedian (Rod Steiger) was starring in the Ziegfield Follies. From that point forward, the banana oil is spread is huge strokes. After being fired from the Ziegfield Follies for not sticking to scripted material (never happened) and losing most of his money to a crooked broker (also untrue), W.C. Fields talks his diminutive pal Ludwig (never existed) into staking him to a trip to California. The comedian and midget (Billy Barty) take over the operation of a wax museum (a complete fabrication) while Fields tries to enter the movie business by writing scripts for films that he wouldn’t make for another ten years (unadulterated hooey). Fields’ scripts get him noticed (nope) by Paramount studios and he is offered a part in a movie. Through a montage of movie title cards (shown out of chronological order and including many of Fields later pictures made at Universal) Fields’ star rises at Paramount.

Here the “me” part of the title enters the picture. Chorus girl Carlotta Monti (Valerie Perrine) meets the Great Man when working on his film Mississippi (didn’t happen), and to her surprise (Ha!) she is invited to his home. Fields invites her to live with him as a sort of platonic (Double ha!) companion. She agrees to the arrangement, unaware that the Great Man is married (Triple ha!) and that he has sabotaged her career to avoid losing her (pure twaddle--Carlotta played several bit parts in films during her time with W.C., and he even featured her in a couple of his films.)

While many details of Fields’ true life story were unknown at the time that W.C. Fields and Me was made, it is baffling why the producers were so determined to get even the most obvious facts wrong, such as shuffling the order in which the films were made or in depicting Gregory LaCava as the director of movies actually directed by Eddie Sutherland. It also makes no sense why the screenwriter would choose to invent melodramatic soap opera when the events of Fields’ real life were much more interesting. The movie completely ignores the Great Man’s rocky career in silent films, the illness that kept him off the screen between 1936 and 1938, his radio feud with Charlie McCarthy, how the timing of his return to films kept him from accepting the role of the Wizard of Oz, censorship skirmishes with Universal, the battle of egos between Fields and Mae West, etc.

The film even fails to depict the Great Man’s tempestuous relationship with the bottle correctly. In the movie, Steiger’s Fields is pro-booze all the way. However, while W.C. always saw the comic possibilities of liquor-laced humor, his true feelings on alcohol were much more conflicted. In his vaudeville days, he shunned the bottle, because he feared it would diminish his abilities as a juggler. Still, he traveled with booze in his trunk to encourage other performers to keep him company after the show. After succumbing to the lure of drink, he tried to give it up at various times in his career, chewing toothpicks obsessively during his dry bouts. He always fell off the wagon, but on his death bed the Great Man admitted to Eddie Cantor that “I’ve often wondered how far I could have gone had I laid off the booze.”

Many of the picture's inaccuracies could easily be forgiven if it correctly captured the spirit of the comedian. Unfortunately, though Rod Steiger tries to keep his portrayal of Fields from becoming a caricature, his performance suffers from the fact that he is singularly unfunny. Of course, Steiger isn’t helped by the fact that the script chooses to avoid using any the Great Man’s classic stage and film material and instead substitutes sub par hokum. It is a shame that the funniest man to ever stagger in front of a movie camera was saddled with such a mirthless biopic.

A Note--If you are interested in the real Fields, I’d highly recommend James Curtis’ definitive book W. C. Fields: A Biography. The documentary W.C. Fields Straight Up also presents a satisfying, well-rounded portrait of the Great Man. By the way, a picture of the real W.C. Fields and Carlotta Monti is presented to the right of this paragraph.

Drinks Consumed--Gin, whiskey, tequila, and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Sneaking sips, staggering, slurred speech, the giggles, harmonizing, bickering, and public disturbance

Potent Quotables--FIELDS: (Sneaking a swig from a bottle before filming a scene) Mm. Like blood to a vampire.

Video Availability--W.C. Fields and Me has never been released on video, but Yammering Magpie Cinema has a collectors copy available on DVD. The DVD is full frame and the video quality is variable (Yammering Magpie’s site ranks the video quality a “B”). Still, this collector’s copy may be the only way you’ll ever see this rarely screened flick.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Donald O’Connor stars in The Buster Keaton Story (1957), another mostly fictional biopic about a comedy legend who had his problems with drink.

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection Vol. 1 (The Bank Dick / My Little Chickadee / You Can't Cheat an Honest Man / It's a Gift / International House)

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Vol. 2 (The Man on the Flying Trapeze / Never Give A Sucker An Even Break / You're Telling Me! / The Old Fashioned Way / Poppy)