Review: Grabbers (2012)

Ireland/C-94m./Dir: Jon Wright/Wr: Kevin Lehane/Cast: Richard Coyle (Garda Ciarán O'Shea), Ruth Bradley (Garda Lisa Nolan), Russell Tovey (Dr. Adam Smith), Lalor Roddy (Paddy Barrett), David Pearse (Brian Maher), Bronagh Gallagher (Una Maher), Pascal Scott (Dr. Jim Gleeson )

Somehow curse words attain an extra level of potency when delivered with an Irish accent.  It adds spice to the expletive--an extra measure of vitriol.  This phenomenon is on ample display in Grabbers,an Irish indie horror/sci-fi/comedy mash-up, in which profanity is drunkenly dispatched in abundance.

The film concerns new arrivals to Erin Island, a small fishing community off the coast of Ireland.  One of the newcomers is Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley), a dedicated female police officer, or “garda” as they are called, who has been posted to a two-week position to fill in for the vacationing partner of the boozy, unreliable Garda Ciarán O'Shea (Richard Coyle).  The other newbies happen to be tentacled monsters that fell from outer space into the sea on the evening before Lisa’s arrival.

The bloodsucking aliens initially devour a few animals and townspeople, but strangely, they prove no match for Paddy Barrett (Lalor Roddy), the aging town drunk.  Based on Paddy’s survival, Nolan and O’Shea are able to deduce the creatures' weaknesses--the aliens dehydrate quickly without water and high blood-alcohol levels are toxic to them.  With a downpour on the way, dry land is not a safe haven from the creatures, so the Garda can only keep the townspeople safe if they can get them as tanked-up as old Paddy.

Grabbers has a boffo premise for a horror comedy, but the execution is a bit more mild than you might expect.  The chills are more silly than scary and the gags are more smile-inducing than laugh-out-loud funny.  Still, the flick has plenty to recommend it, including a scenic location, likeable characters, well-rendered CGI creatures, fun action set pieces, and obscenities with an Irish brogue. 

Best of all, the human cast is excellent, providing much better acting than you would expect from a low-budget indie horror.  Ruth Bradley is especially good as the workaholic cop that cuts loose during the final third of the movie, after downing a bounty of booze.  She is wholly believable and utterly adorable when acting out the blissful state of first-time drunkenness.  She achieved the naturalistic effect by studying a recording of herself while actually intoxicated, and the extra effort paid off tremendously.  Her bubbly, authentic portrayal ranks with the best pickled performances ever captured on film; and it’s hard not to fall in love with her a little.

While I wouldn’t call Grabbers a new comedy-horror classic, it is a genial gem on par with humorous “creature features” like Tremors (1990).  I look forward to revisiting the film for its clever monster set pieces and especially for Ruth Bradley’s enchanting inebriate.

Drinks Consumed--Whiskey, beer, wine, tequila, and moonshine

Intoxicating Effects--Swearing, slurred speech, stumbling, belching, bad breath, brawling, vomiting, passing out, hangover, drunk driving and cycling, and harmonizing

Potent Quotables--BRIAN: So how drunk are we talkin’ here?
ADAM: Paddy-levels of drunkenness.
JIM: (Laughs) You’ve gone off your game, boy.
LISA: Uh, no offense, but I don’t think I can handle Paddy levels.
PADDY: Takes years of practice.

Video Availability--Grabbers DVD(MPI Home Video)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--Rather than being vulnerable to alcohol, the aliens from Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) kill or incapacitate their human victims by injecting them with booze.

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Review: Mississippi (1935)

USA/B&W-73 m./Dir: A. Edward Sutherland/Wr: Francis Martin & Jack Cunningham/Cast: Bing Crosby (Tom Grayson), W.C. Fields (Commodore Jackson), Joan Bennett (Lucy Rumford), Gail Patrick (Elvira Rumford), Queenie Smith (Alabam), Claude Gillingwater (Gen. Rumford), John Miljan (Maj. Patterson)

W.C. Fields’ best comedies (The Fatal Glass of Beer, It’s a Gift, The Bank Dick, etc.) were projects that he initiated and scripted.  However, the majority of Fields’ filmography consists of studio assignments that the comedian improved exponentially through copious adlibbing.  Mississippiis one of the most entertaining examples of a contractual obligation that the Great Man made his own. 

Mississippi was conceived as a straightforward adaptation of the Booth Tarkington play, The Magnolia, which had been mined for film fodder previously in 1924 and 1929.  The melodrama was to feature singer Lanny Ross; but at the last minute, the studio decided to turn the production into a star vehicle for their most popular crooner, Bing Crosby.  However, when Fields ignored the script entirely and padded his secondary part with hilarious improvisations, the film ended up as a greater showcase for Fields than for Der Bingle.

Set in the planation-era South, the story concerns a violence-adverse Philadelphian, Tom Grayson (Crosby), who is engaged to the eldest daughter of plantation-owner General Rumford (Claude Gillingwater).  When a former beau of the bride-to-be challenges Tom to a duel, he refuses to fight.  This discredits the Philly crooner in the eyes of the Rumford clan, with the exception of younger daughter Lucy (Joan Bennett) who harbors a crush on the pacifist.  With the nuptials called off, Tom takes a singing gig aboard a showboat skippered by mint julep-swilling Commodore Jackson (Fields).  After a tussle in which Tom kills a man in self-defense, the Commodore finds he can profit by promoting Tom as “The Singing Killer.”  Misunderstandings proliferate when Lucy boards the riverboat and hears the exaggerated stories of Tom’s murderous reputation.

When Crosby saw the initial previews of Mississippi, he was horrified.  The director had given W.C. free reign to create his own bits of physical comedy and dialogue, and the comic had stolen the picture out from under the star.  Furious, Bing demanded that another song be added to the film and that some of Fields’ footage be trimmed (including an entire sequence in which the Great Man attempted to play a steam-powered calliope).  Although the studio heads consented to Crosby’s changes, W.C. Fields still dominates the final cut of the film.  The comedian receives as much screen time as the crooner, and his boozy business outshines everything else in the picture.

Being that the Great Man was given carte blanche to rewrite and expand his scenes, Mississippi has a more Fieldsian feel than most of his studio-assigned outings.  Quotable lines abound; and a crooked poker game involving far too many aces was transformed from a brief throwaway scene on the page to a comedy classic thanks to Fields' improvised business.  Mississippi also has a higher alcohol content than most Fields’ output, due in large part to a running gag in which a steward delivers a mint julep whenever the Commodore has a free hand.  While Mississippi is not as essential as the gems that Fields built from the ground up, lovers of classic comedy and soused cinema enthusiasts should consider it a “must see.”

Drinks Consumed--Bourbon whiskey (in mint juleps, shots, with soda, and in spiked punch), wine, and unknown cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Boasting, bravado, stumbling, and swearing of a sort

Potent Quotables--GEN. RUMFORD: And here… Here is a little jug of liquor.
COMMODORE: Oh, thank you.  A nice little noggin, yes.
GEN. RUMFORD: Yeah.  It’s made right here on the plantation, so you needn’t be afraid of it.
COMMODORE: Never been frightened of liquor in all my life.

Video Availability--DVD, as part of The Universal Backlot Series: Bing Crosby Collection (Universal)

Similarly Sauced Cinema--That same year, Fields’ fellow Ziegfeld Follies cast mate, Will Rogers, also starred as a steamboat captain in the alcohol-laced comedy Steamboat Round the Bend.

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Review: Wings (1927)

USA/Silent/B&W-144m./Dir: William A. Wellman/Wr: Hope Loring & Louis D. Lighton/Cast: Charles “Buddy” Rogers (Jack Powell), Richard Arlen (David Armstrong), Clara Bow (Mary Preston), Jobyna Ralston (Sylvia Lewis), El Brendel (Herman Schwimpf), Gary Cooper (Cadet White)

Wings,the winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture, can barely be considered a “Booze Movie.”  It only contains one extended soused sequence in which World War I pilots enjoy a drunken leave in Paris.  However, that small, 20-minute slice from the 144-minute film is so bizarre and memorable that I would be remiss not to mention it.

The movie itself is the story of two young men from the same small town, speed demon Jack Powell (Charles “Buddy” Rogers) and rich kid David Armstrong (Richard Arlen), that are both in love with the same woman.  Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston), the girl in question, truly loves David, but through a mix-up that could only happen in the movies, Jack gets the impression that Sylvia shares his affections.  To further complicate the melodrama, Jack’s neighbor, Mary Preston (Clara Bow), harbors a Godzilla-sized crush on the boy next door, but her not-so-subtle wooing goes unnoticed by the dim-witted Jack.

When war is declared, both Jack and David volunteer for the Air Service to become fighter pilots.  Due to their romantic rivalry, they begin as adversaries, but they soon forge a fast friendship.  That bond becomes even stronger as they dogfight with German biplanes in the skies above France.  The women are marginalized as the story basically morphs into a love story between the two men, punctuated by impressive aerial photography.

The soused sequence appears midway through the running time.  Jack and David awarded R & R in Paris for exceptional valor in battle; and coincidentally, Mary Preston is also in the city doing her part for the war effort.  When Mary overhears that leaves are being cancelled due to a major offensive, she goes searching for the boy next door.  She finds Jack at the Folies Bergere with David and another soldier, guzzling champagne and cavorting with loose women.  At this point, the scene goes cuckoo bananas.  Jack begins to hallucinate, envisioning cartoon bubbles rising from the champagne.  Soon he is seeing bubbles everywhere.  The sequence is second only to the “Pink Elephants on Parade” number from Dumbo (1941) when it comes to hallucinogenic drunk scenes.

Mary tries to convince Jack to return to the front, but he is so enamored with the bubbles, he doesn’t acknowledge or recognize her.  Eventually, Mary resorts to donning a sparkly dress to lure Jack away from scene, boasting that she has better bubbles than the French girls.  The scene ends with Jack passing out in a hotel room, while Mary gets caught changing her clothes (an excuse for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it topless scene from Clara Bow).

While Wings is the only silent film to receive the top Oscar until 2011’s The Artist, it isn’t a very good example of silent drama.  The movie is excessively melodramatic and corny, the performances are often over-the-top, and the comedy relief is generally unfunny.  Still, the film is worth seeing for its aerial battle scenes.  In this age of CGI action, it is thrilling to see real people in real planes performing death-defying stunts.  The flight scenes are even more electrifying when you realize that the actors had to fly the planes themselves during much of the action.  The aerial action and bizarre booziness, make the film well worth a view.

Drinks Consumed--Extremely bubbly champagne and unnamed cocktails

Intoxicating Effects--Hallucinations, blurred vision, brawling, destruction of property, harmonizing, staggering, passing out, and memory blackouts

Potent Quotables--JACK (commenting on the champagne): H’ray for bubbles!

 
Video Availability--Wings is available in a wonderfully sharp transfer on Blu-rayand DVDfrom Paramount.

Similarly Sauced Cinema--A baby elephant has similar alcohol-related hallucinations in Dumbo (1941). 

Trivia--While Wings is considered the first “Best Picture” Oscar winner, in reality, two films were awarded top prize at the 1927/1928 Academy Awards.  Wings was awarded “Outstanding Picture” and F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise was awarded “Best Unique and Artistic Production.”  The latter category was phased out the following year, while “Outstanding Picture” was later renamed “Best Picture.”

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Booze News: Take a trip to THE WORLD'S END

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

I've returned from a trip to The World's End,and it is a journey that I highly recommend for soused cinephiles (and for anyone that enjoys smart comedy).  I'll post a full review when this sudsy gem makes its way to blu-ray, but be assured that the team that gave us Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz have served up another slice of fried gold.

If you only make one trip to the multiplex this year, The World's End is the movie to see.  Edgar Wright is the best director working today with a scheduled release in 2013 (Most of the other directors in his league had releases in 2012).  The writing is as sharp and witty as in the previous Wright/Pegg/Frost collaborations.  The action set-pieces are expertly staged (Nick Frost hulking out and rampaging Sammo Hung-style is worth the price of admission alone).  Best of all, The World's End is the most emotionally resonant and mature of the films in the Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy.

There have been a lot of substandard movie releases this summer.  Expertly crafted entertainments deserve to be rewarded, so vote with your wallet for more quality productions like The World's End.  I know I'll be returning for a second round.

Cheers,
garv

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Booze News: Happy Dipsomania Week!

Attention, fellow inebriates!

Joe Dante and his merry movie gurus at Trailers From Hell have proclaimed this 1/52 interval of the calendar year to be "Dipsomania Week," and as thus, their website will be featuring audio commentaries to accompany the original advertisements for three of the greatest booze movies of all time.

First up, and available now, is the trailer for Barfly (1987), featuring running commentary by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson.  That will be followed on Wednesday by producer/director Dan Ireland’s take on The Days of Wine and Roses (1962).  And on Friday, Joe Dante will cap off the fest by providing his thoughts on the promo for Harvey (1950).

If you are unfamiliar with Trailers From Hell, click on the link and go to the site immediately.  You are in for a real treat.  The site is a treasure trove of cinematic trivia and a great way to discover catalog titles of which you were not previously aware.  Adding booze to the mix is just icing on the cake. 

However, be warned, the day after I discovered Trailers From Hell, I was pretty much useless due to sleep deprivation.  I just couldn't pull myself away from the site.

Thanks TFH gurus for giving soused cinema enthusiasts another reason to celebrate (not that we need much of an incentive to lift a glass)! 

Cheers,
garv

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Booze News: DRUNK HISTORY is back!

Greetings, fellow inebriates,

Like the phoenix of Greek myth and X-Men fame, Drunk History never dies.  It merely disappears for long intervals.

The brainchild of Derek Walters and Jeremy Konner, Drunk History began as a popular series of short films on the Funny or Die website, in which soused storytellers passionately recounted historical anecdotes while actors and comedians re-enacted the tales.  After a prolonged absence, Drunk History reappeared briefly as a segment on HBO's short-lived Funny or Die Presents.  Now the concept returns yet again--this time as an eight-episode, weekly series on Comedy Central, beginning July 9th at 10pm Eastern (a rerun throughout the week).

Each episode of the new show will feature multiple history lessons centered around a particular U.S. city.  For example, episode 1 is Washington, D.C. themed, and features dubious accounts of the Watergate investigation (with Fred Willard as Deep Throat), the rivalry between John Wilkes Booth (Adam Scott) and Edwin Booth (Will Forte), and the epic encounter between Richard Nixon (Bob Odenkirk) and Elvis Presley (Jack Black).  If you can't wait until July 9th, the first episode is available now in its entirety on Comedy Central's site.  Here's the link--> Drunk History Episode 1

The return of Drunk History is most welcome.  I greatly look forward to future episodes, which promise the participation of Kristen Wiig, Connie Britton, Winona Ryder, Aubrey Plaza, Bradley Whitford, Owen and Luke Wilson, and many others.

Summer TV just got interesting.  Set your DVRs and chill your cocktails. 

Cheers,
garv

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Review: Pie-Eyed (1925)

USA/Silent/B&W-18m./Dir: Scott Pembroke & Joe Rock/Wr: Tay Garnett (titles)/Cast: Stan Laurel (Stanley), Glen Cavendar (Jack Tinney, nightclub manager), Thelma Hill (Girl in club)

Stan Laurel first journeyed to America in 1910 as part of the Fred Karno comedy troupe, the same British theatrical company that featured Charlie Chaplin.  Laurel was both Chaplin’s roommate and understudy, and he continued in the shadow of his former roommate when Chaplin left Karno for motion pictures.  Stan continued on the stage (mostly vaudeville) for four years, performing as a Chaplin impersonator, until making his own leap to the movies in late 1917.

While Chaplin found his enduring Tramp character and rose to fame with his second cinematic short subject, Laurel spent nine years churning out mediocre short comedies before latching onto the comic persona and partnership that would endear him to mass audiences.  During those nine years, Stan experimented with different characters and styles of comedy, flip-flopping between manic oafs and slow-witted boobs, often borrowing from Chaplin, the most popular comedian of the silent era.

Pie-Eyedwas Laurel’s attempt at making the type of soused slapstick two-reeler that propelled Chaplin to success.  In the short Stanley plays a drunken reveler at a night spot known as the Firewater Club.  After guzzling wine, Laurel passes out at his table.  Later he awakes to try his hand at directing the band, as well as dancing with the showgirl wife of the owner, and getting into scuffles with various employees and patrons.  The nightclub manager, an ex-boxing champion, tires quickly of Stanley’s antics.  He roughs up the nuisance and kicks him out of the establishment, after giving Stan his business card, should he ever want boxing lessons.  

Staggering along the street in the early morning hours, Stanley attracts the attention of a beat cop; and the remainder of the short consists of the policeman’s attempts to drag the drunk off the street and into what he believes to be Stanley’s apartment.  In reality, the cop plants Stanley in the domicile of the nightclub manager, having read the address off the business card.

Pie-Eyed plays like a mash-up of Chaplin’s drunken shorts.  The nightclub scenes are reminiscent of The Rounders (1914) and A Night Out (1915), while the street gags (especially those involving Stanley’s overcoat) in the second half of the picture are lifted from Pay Day (1922).  Unfortunately, none of the gags in Pie-Eyed are as fresh or funny as those in the earlier Chaplin shorts.  What’s more, the character of a drunken lout is an ill fit for Stan Laurel.  The most interesting aspect of the short is that it occasionally utilizes animation.  Hand-drawn lines and stars appear on screen whenever Stan experiences a shock or blow (much like one would see in a comic strip).

As a glimpse into Stan Laurel’s development as a comedian, Pie-Eyed has historic value.  However, without Stan’s later achievements, there wouldn’t be much reason to revisit this unexceptional slapstick short.

Drinks Consumed--Wine (possibly Champagne)

Intoxicating Effects--Staggering, stumbling, hiccups, seeing things, harmonizing, passing out, public disturbance, bickering, brawling, and bar tossed

Potent Quotables--STANLEY (after being punched by the nightclub manager): Have you anything that strong with alcohol?

Video Availability--This particular short is available in several video compilations, including The Stan Laurel Collection 2 (Slapstick Symposium) (2 disc)and Slapstick Encyclopedia (Image).

Similarly Sauced Cinema--For Grade-A, booze-fueled comedy from Stanley, check out the classic Laurel and Hardy short, Them Thar Hills (1934).

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