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