The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

I probably should have saved this for a few weeks, but with the UFC fight on the White House lawn set to happen tomorrow to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary--just as the Founding Fathers intended, I have no doubt--I was reminded of something else that once demonstrated our superiority on an international level.  There was no major fighting, no body count, no... toxic masculinity.  And they made a movie about it to boot.

I love it when movies are based on a true story or, even better, "inspired by true events."  The screenwriters often have a lot of leeway to imagine what actually happened that was not really documented that led to actual events that were.  In many cases, these imaginings are probably a bit more dramatic and tense then they were in real life, but it makes for a good movie.  Sometimes I often find myself wanting it to have happened the way it was depicted in the film--even in films like The Right Stuff which was based on well-documented actual events.  (I certainly hope the origin of "The Shepard's Prayer" as depicted in that movie actually happened the way they show it, primarily because I say it every time I get behind the wheel of my car.  You can look that one up, if you're not familiar with the term.)

The facts are these--Steven Spurrier was a British wine merchant who was a champion of French wines.  He moved to Paris in 1970 and opened his own specialist wine shop.  Along with Jon Winwroth and Patricia Gallagher, he co-founded L'Academie du Vin, a private wine school, which taught students the finer points of oenology.  In 1976, around the time of America's bicentennial, Spurrier had heard about wine makers in the Napa Valley area of California and set up a blind taste test among French wine snobs to demonstrate France's superiority at wine making.  Spoiler alert--in what became known as "The Judgement of Paris," the California wines won the blind test and completely upended the wine industry.  After an article was published in Time, people all over the country were dying to try these wines, particularly the 1973 Chateau Montelena, the Chardonnay that won the white wine category.  Since, at the time, no one outside of Napa Valley was drinking wine from Napa Valley, they had a lot of difficulty finding it.

In 2008, a movie was made about the events leading up to the competition.  Alan Rickman played Steven Spurrier.  His one regular "customer" in his wine shop is American expat, Maurice Cantavale (played by Dennis Farina).  Maurice tells Steven that he's heard about some really good wines that are being produced in America, specifically in California's Napa Valley region.  Skeptical, Steven travels to California to check it out.  He meets Jim Barrett (played by Bill Pullman) who gave up his former life as a lawyer to buy a vineyard.  He and his slacker/stoner son Bo (Chris Pine) run the vineyard, trying desperately--well, Jim is the one really trying--to make the perfect wine.  Helping them out is Jim's friend Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez) who, unbeknownst to them, is making his own wine on the side.  The film depicts a lot of tension between father and son regarding the present and future of Jim's seemingly hare-brained dream.

Watching this movie again made me wish I remembered the events.depicted.  Although I was alive during the time, my earliest memories took place a week after the bicentennial.  Consequently, I had no real understanding of the larger world around me--certainly not when it came to adult beverages.  Watching it made me feel patriotic in a way.  I suddenly found myself proud to be an American... in the strictest, non-Lee Greenwood sense of the phrase.  (Dear God, I hate that song--always have.)  Overall, I think it's a much classier version of America than what can be presented in a UFC fight.... or any kind of fight, for that matter.

For his performance, Alan Rickman went on to win (and I swear I'm not making this up) the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival.  Featuring a rockin' 1970s soundtrack (a little heavy on The Doobie Brothers, but rockin' nonetheless), the film was directed by Randall Miller who also co-wrote it with Jody Savin and Ross Schwartz.  Co-starring Rachael Taylor, Miguel Sandoval, and Eliza Dushku, please enjoy Bottle Shock.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

 

 

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Album of the Week!

I had an idea for a movie some years back.  It would star Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, and Anthony Head as brothers.  Honestly, that was it.  I had no real plot or story--I kind of pictured Hugh Grant as the black sheep of the family, but beyond that, I was never able to come up with anything.  Not working in show business, life outside of show business always seemed to get in the way.

I was reminded of this last Friday whilst looking at my Facebook memories before work.  Apparently, nine years ago, I posted this idea.  I remembered the memory and went to work giving it no more thought in the moment.  A few hours later, I got a text from my sister that read, "Sorry to hear about Anthony Stewart Head."  I hadn't heard or read anything yet so--figuring he either died or had been accused of sexuaul misconduct (frankly, I don't know which would be worse)--I did a quick Google search and discovered he had in fact died from complications of pneumonia at the age of 72.

Like most Americans, I was first aware of Head's work through his performance as Rupert Giles on the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."  I always say that I kind of wanted to be like Spike and I was more like Xander in real life, but, as the son of a librarian, I kind of identified with Giles.  I also enjoy cross-referencing.  Hell, given half a chance, I might have even slept with Buffy's mom.   I must confess, I watched it on DVD after it went off the air in 2003.  But as the series progressed, I realized what a good actor Head was, not to mention a musician--more on that in a bit.

(In the extra features on the DVDs, it was mentioned that Head first came to prominence in America in a series of commercials for Taster's Choice coffee in which a romance blossomed between Head and Sharon Maughan over a mutual love of coffee.  These actually aired when I was in high school and I do remember them as we would sit around as a family and make fun of them.)

In the twenty years since I first saw "Buffy" I would tend to notice when he appeared in something I liked, or even something I wanted to see or even still want to see.  I regret to say that I've still never seen "Little Britain" and his uncredited appearance in Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  And I would have loved to have seen his performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the West End Revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the early 1990s.

Also, like most Americans, I most recently saw him in the show "Ted Lasso," which my sister gave me as an early birthday present to enjoy while recovering from hip replacement surgery.  (Weirdly, she also gave me the first three seasons of "Buffy" when I had my previous hip replacement.)  I was delighted by the entire show, but Head's performance stood out to me.  Frankly, the character of Rupert Mannion was a bit of an asshole, which also quite delighted me.  I had never seen him play one before.  The closest I had seen--since no one else is bringing it up--was his appearance in the last four episodes of the sixth season of the highly underrated "Monarch of the Glen."  His character of Chester Grant was more of a prick than an asshole and he became relatively likeable by the end, but he was still not the reserved, charming Englishman to which I'd been overexposed in over 120 episodes of "Buffy."  But Grant was absolutely nothing compared to Mannion and I'm sorry he won't be around for the upcoming fourth season, which I assume will be dedicated to him in some way, shape, or form.

The one great thing that "Buffy" did was show me--show us all--that not only was Head a great actor, but he was also quite the impressive singer and musician.  During the show's seven-season run, there were a number of instances where we got to hear Giles sing and even play the guitar--most notably in the famous musical episode, "Once More, With Feeling."  The following year, he really showed off his musically creative side by releasing an album with musician George Sarah.  The two wrote the bulk of the songs (Head wrote the lyrics and Sarah wrote the music and produced the album).  I hadn't listened to it in a long time, but I felt compelled to do so after finding out about his passing (not to mention the passing of his long-term partner and mother to his children in January!).  Initially, I thought it was a little synth-heavy.  I still think that, but after twenty years, I've come to believe it's one of the album's strengths.  It gives the whole thing a nice ambient melancholy that may be best appreciated at certain times.  And who knew that Anthony Head could play the sitar?

Featuring appearances by "Buffy" costars James Marsters, Amber Benson, and Alyson Hannigan, this week--since no one else has seemed to mention it in all the tributes to him--please enjoy the newly late, great Anthony (Stewart) Head and George Sarah with their 2002 album, aptly titled Music For Elevators.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill