Review: Moonrunners (1975)

USA/C-110m./Dir: Gy Waldren/Wr: Gy Waldren/Cast: Kiel Martin (Bobby Lee Hagg), James Mitchum (Grady Hagg), Arthur Hunnicutt (Uncle Jesse Hagg), Chris Forbes (Beth Ann Eubanks), George Ellis (Jake Rainey), Pete Munro (Zeebo), Waylon Jennings (The Balladeer)

The countrified cocktail of comedy and car chases that was The Dukes of Hazzard had a huge impact on popular culture. Not only did the series span seven seasons on CBS, the show spawned a spin-off series, a Saturday-morning cartoon, two TV reunion movies, and a feature film remake. However, four years before the Duke boys first burned up the dirt roads of Hazzard County, creator Gy Waldren experimented with the premise, writing and directing the drive-in flick Moonrunners.

The film focuses on another pair of troublemaking cousins, Bobby Lee Hagg (Kiel Martin) and Grady Hagg (James Mitchum). After Bobby Lee is released from one of his many stays in the county jail, he heads home, picking up a pretty girl (Chris Forbes) along the way. Bobby Lee plans to resume running moonshine with his skirt-chasing cousin for their Uncle Jesse (Arthur Hunnicutt), but when he arrives, he finds that trouble’s brewing. Jake Rainey (George Ellis), the local boss and owner of a bar/brothel, has been consolidating all of the moonshine operations in the county for a cartoonishly attired New York syndicate. Uncle Jesse, being a perfectionist when it comes to the quality of his whiskey, refuses to sell his white lightning to Rainey, considering it a sin to mix his delicately aged brew with the swill that Rainey peddles. Of course, car chases, run-ins with bought-off lawmen, and explosions are the unavoidable result.

Moonrunners contains many of the elements that would eventually lead to the success of The Dukes of Hazzard--rabble-rousing cousins, fast cars, a pretty girl in tight pants, Uncle Jesse, a Boss Hogg-type character, Sheriff Rosco Coltrane, and even narration by balladeer Waylon Jennings. However, the pieces don’t quite fit together in the original film. First of all, the Hagg boys are less likeable leads than the Dukes. Bobby Lee is written and played as a near-sociopath who gets into dangerous situations, employs violence, and destroys property for the fun of it. And James Mitchum, hired likely for his connection to the king of all drive-in moonshine movies Thunder Road (1958), sleepwalks through the role of Grady.

The story’s conflict also poses a problem in that there isn’t much of one. The Hagg boys both believe that Uncle Jesse is being pig-headed in his stand against Jake Rainey; so it is hard for the audience to get invested in the cousins’ cause when the characters aren’t. Jake Rainey also doesn’t make a solid villain in that he likes the Haggs and often tries his best to keep his old friend Jesse from getting hurt. Out of all of the film’s features, Waylon Jennings fares best, and it is easy to see why his narration became an integral part of the subsequent series.

Truth be told, Moonrunners isn’t much of a “booze movie.” It only makes the list due to the fact that alcohol is an essential component of the plot. Unfortunately, moonshine is talked about and driven around much more than it is actually consumed (a common fault of most moonshine movies). The Hagg boys even go so far as to boast that they never drink the stuff themselves. In general, moonshine movies tend to be pretty lackluster, but Moonrunners is a below average example of the genre. I would not recommend watching this flick on its own merits. However, it can be fascinating when looked at in comparison to the series that it would eventually influence.

Drinks Consumed--Beer, moonshine, and bourbon

Intoxicating Effects--Bar tossed

Potent Quotables--PREACHER: That’s sinful, Jesse. I’ve been tellin’ you that for years. Usin’ your god-given talents for makin’ demon whiskey.
JESSE: Makin’ fine liquor is the only talent God gave me, Preacher. It would be sinful not to use it. Besides, in all them ten commandments, God didn’t say one single word against drinkin’. Although he had a right smart to say about nearly everything else.
PREACHER: Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is ragin’, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. --Proverbs 20, verse 1.
JESSE: Give strong drink unto him that’s ready to perish and wine unto those that have heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. -- Proverbs 31, verse 6 and 7.
BOBBY LEE: (Laughs) Preacher, you ought to know better than to argue Bible with Jesse.

Video Availability--Moonrunners 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 VHS-level at best. However, you may have no other opportunity to check out this rarity. The DVD isn’t yet listed on Yammering Magpie’s Website, but it can be purchased by contacting them at this link.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--James Mitchum first ran moonshine in the drive-in classic Thunder Road (1958).

Read more...

Review: I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

USA/B&W-117m./Dir: Daniel Mann/Wr: Helen Deutsch & Jay Richard Kennedy/Cast: Susan Hayward (Lillian Roth), Jo Van Fleet (Katie Roth), Richard Conte (Tony Bardeman), Eddie Albert (Burt McGuire), Don Taylor (Wallie), Ray Danton (David Treadman)

I’ll Cry Tomorrow is one of the booziest biopics ever produced by Hollywood. Based on the autobiography of singer and professed alcoholic Lillian Roth, this glossy melodrama wastes little time on Roth’s rise to stardom and focuses almost entirely on the songbird’s downward spiral into alcoholism, depression, alcoholism, bad marriage, alcoholism, despair, and alcoholism. A more accurate title would have been I’ll Cry Tomorrow, But I’ll Drink Today.

The sensationalized account of Lillian Roth’s life provided a perfect vehicle for MGM’s queen of melodrama, Susan Hayward. As the soused songstress, Hayward was given the opportunity to indulge in the overwrought style of acting in which she specialized. Whether wallowing in self pity, belting out song lyrics, tossing back slugs of whiskey, or suffering shivering fits of delirium tremens, the actress earned her Academy Award nomination by giving her all in every scene. Admittedly, by today’s standards Hayward’s “all” is a bit too much. Her extremely theatrical style of acting often pushes the film in the direction of camp; and some scenes play out like a Carol Burnett Show parody of a 50’s melodrama rather than a serious depiction of addiction.

Despite Hayward’s histrionic performance (or perhaps because of it), I’ll Cry Tomorrow is a very entertaining biopic painted in silky shades of black and white. It is professionally directed, well acted (and overacted), beautifully shot, and the musical numbers are well staged. The worst that can be said for the film is that it suffers some of the problems that plague all biopics--the nagging feeling that a documentary featuring the real subject would have made a more interesting movie and the artificiality of having a single performer portray several decades of an individual’s life (the 38-year-old Hayward, while well preserved, comes off a bit ridiculous portraying Roth as a teenager).

Ultimately, I’ll Cry Tomorrow is a worthy addition to the booze movie subgenre of addiction and recovery films, such as The Lost Weekend (1945) and Days of Wine and Roses (1962). Whether you choose to watch I’ll Cry Tomorrow for its depiction of alcoholism as a disease or simply view it for its camp value, it delivers big on both counts.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey, martinis (gin), champagne, wine, and unnamed cocktails.

Intoxicating Effects--Slurred speech, staggering, stumbling, sneaking sips, the giggles, bickering, brawling, physical violence, public disturbance, passing out, memory blackouts, the shakes, and delirium tremens

Potent Quotables--LILLIAN (narration): Every nerve in my body was screaming. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. All I had to do was open that door and walk ten steps to the bar in my living room to find relief from this torture. Nothing could have that hold on me. I had to face it, confront it. It was the only way. I could, and I had to… I took the drink I didn’t want to take.

Video Availability--I’ll Cry Tomorrow is available as a standalone DVD or as part of The Leading Ladies Collection, Vol. 2 (Warner Brothers).

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Susan Hayward received her first Academy Award nomination playing another sauce-slugging songbird in Smash Up: The Story of a Woman (1947).

I'll Cry Tomorrow (CD featuring the real Lillian Roth)

Read more...

Booze News: Stream BARFLY through Video-On-Demand!

Read more...

Review: Old School (2003)

USA/C-91m./Dir: Todd Phillips/Wr: Todd Phillips & Scott Armstrong/Cast: Luke Wilson (Mitch Martin), Will Ferrell (Frank “the Tank” Ricard), Vince Vaughn (Bernard “Beanie” Campbell), Jeremy Piven (Dean Gordon Pritchard), Ellen Pompeo (Nicole), Juliette Lewis (Heidi)

In making Old School, writer/director Todd Phillips attempted to capture the feel of the R-rated comedies of the Seventies and Eighties, with National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) as the most obvious inspiration. The film ended up succeeding on many levels. It was a box office champ, and it served to boost the careers of its director and stars (especially Will Ferrell). However, as a film comedy, Old School was a mixed bag at best.

The story concerns a frustrated 30-year-old, Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson), who moves into an old house on the edge of a university after catching his girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) in the act of cheating with multiple partners. While Mitch is just looking for a quiet place to forget his troubles, his thirty-something buddies--stereo magnate Beanie Campbell (Vince Vaughn) and quiet spoken, newly married Frank Ricard (Will Ferrell)--see Mitch’s new digs as an opportunity to relive their wild college days. Beanie initially throws Mitch a beer-drenched blow-out, in which mild-mannered Frank funnels numerous beers and reverts to his animalistic, pre-marriage “Frank the Tank” persona. On the rocks with his wife, Frank moves in with Mitch; and Beanie convinces the pair to start up a fraternity for outcasts of all ages. Of course, the middle-aged frat boys soon get in trouble with the strait-laced Dean (Jeremy Piven).

There are certainly laughs to be had in Old School, but the film is decidedly uneven. The jokes work best when they are reality based and even a little subtle, such as Ferrell’s earnest description of his plans for Saturday at the Home Depot, the unnecessarily foul-mouthed band in the background of the wedding scene, and the way Mitch’s boss offers him Skittles. Unfortunately, the script tends to tilt more towards cheap and broad gags. Phillips seems to have drawn out more of what worked worst in Animal House (cartoon jokes such as when Kevin Bacon gets flattened) and less of what worked best.

While the acting is good throughout, the material and the casting sometimes get in the way of the performances. For example, Luke Wilson is at his best with quirky material (such as 1996’s Bottle Rocket), but as the lead in Old School, he is given little to do but play the straight man for much of the movie. Consequently, he fades in the background as Ferrell and Vaughn hog the spotlight. Jeremy Piven is also miscast. Playing a square, uptight character seems to run opposite of his natural demeanor, and the resulting performance is unnatural. He would have been more effectively cast as one of the frat boys. Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell come off best. Vaughn’s motor mouth routine is consistently funny (“earmuffs”), and many of Will Ferrell’s physical bits are inspired.

Ultimately, Old School will be remembered as the film that propelled Will Ferrell from being known as a Saturday Night Live cast member to the ranks of A-list movie stardom. Whether that ultimately was for good or ill, I will leave it up to you to decide.

Drinks Consumed--Beer, wine, and whiskey

Intoxicating Effects--Slurred speech, stumbling, loosened inhibitions, public nudity, soused sex, memory blackouts, and public disturbance

Potent Quotables--FRANK (After funneling a beer): Fill it up again! It’s so good! Once it hits your lips it’s so good!

Video Availability--Old School Unrated Edition DVD and Old School Unrated Edition [Blu-ray] (DreamWorks)

Similarly Sauced Cinema-- Todd Phillips once again paired male bonding with bountiful booze in 2009’s The Hangover.

Mitch-a-Palooza Old School T-shirt

Read more...

Review: His Favorite Pastime (1914)

USA/Silent/B&W-13m./Dir: George Nichols/Wr: Craig Hutchinson/Cast: Charles Chaplin (Drunk), Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (Another Drunk), Peggy Pearce (Wife), Edgar Kennedy (Rough drinking buddy), Hank Mann (Husband)

Charlie Chaplin once again mined his stage inebriate act for his seventh foray into film, His Favorite Pastime. The short begins in a bar, and Chaplin’s tramp character is already so stewed that when lighting his cigar, he tosses away the cigar and hangs onto the lit match. After dealing with another drunk (Fatty Arbuckle) who is intent on stealing Chaplin’s beer, the tramp steps out of the bar to catch some air. There he spies a pretty young woman, and he hits on her hard… until her husband shows up. While returning to the bar seems like a relatively safe move, Chaplin ends up spending more time roughhousing with the other barflies (and an uncooperative swinging door) than he does downing whiskey.

Eventually the tramp returns to the street and catches a glimpse of the married woman getting into an automobile. The lecherous lush follows the car and somehow manages to arrive at the woman’s house before she does herself; but the stewed stalker is forced to hit the streets when the woman, her maid, her husband, and various neighbors make it clear that he is an unwelcome guest.

His Favorite Pastime will never be confused with Chaplin’s best work. Like most of the early Chaplin Keystone shorts, the film has little plot beyond “Chaplin drinks and causes mayhem,” and the comedian’s tramp character lacks the subtlety and depth that would develop once the comic gained full control of his productions. While slapstick roughhousing would always be part of Chaplin’s comic arsenal; in the later films, the recipients of the tramp’s boot would deserve the abuse. In His Favorite Pastime, Chaplin strikes out at innocents and is simply a drunken lout.

Still, it’s easy to see why Chaplin’s character and this particular short were hits with audiences of the time. The comedian manages a number of funny improvisations with props, including his battle with a swinging door that anticipates his mêlée with a Murphy bed in the later short One A.M. (1916). There are also some nice acrobatics, including a tumble over a stair rail into a perfect sitting position on a couch below. While there is little motivation for Chaplin’s actions beyond the fact that he is lubricated in the extreme, the story holds together better than in most of his earlier Keystones, and the short is a major improvement over his previous film, Tango Tangles (1914).

Of course, it is impossible for a modern critic to fairly judge any of Chaplin’s Keystone shorts, because none of them exist today in their original release versions. The existing print of His Favorite Pastime starts and ends abruptly, a sure sign of missing footage. In fact, a review from the time of the film’s release mentions that the tramp ends the short atop a telegraph pole. That scene like the telegraph itself has been lost to time.

Drinks Consumed--Beer and whiskey

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, stumbling, flirting, passing out, brawling, and public disturbance

Potent Quotables--None to speak of

Video Availability--His Favorite Pastime, like most of the public domain Keystone shorts, is available on numerous budget DVDs from companies such as Delta and Madacy. However, an effort is 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. The film as it currently survives can be viewed on embedded video above.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Chaplin was drunk again in Mabel’s Married Life (1914).

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

Read more...