Saddle up, partners, because we (along with returning guest Todd) head to the Wild Wild West (of Italy) for the 1964 spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars! Clint Eastwood plays The Man With No Name, a lone gunslinger with no allegiances and an eye for money, who wanders into a desert town besieged by gang warfare and decides to clean house. The film was a career-defining effort for both Eastwood and director Sergio Leone, who helped to define the spaghetti Western and its unique sense of dramatic, operatic style. Ennio Morricone delivers a dynamite score that charms as much as it thrills, and the film's climax is famous in its building of tension and excitement. Unofficially adapted from the 1961 Akira Kurosawa samurai flick Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars is a worthy transfer, and a great film in its own right. Check out our review and drinking game below!
In this scattershot hero's journey, all manner of rented costumes are used to full effect as the Fantasy Mission Force encounters a group of Amazons led by a fey man in a tuxedo, Chinese Nazis driving American muscle cars, Asian Scotsmen, and many more strange horrors. Part of the charm (and the frustration) of the film is just how hyperactive it is, but if you can ride with the bizarre energy you can have a lot of fun laughing at it. While Jackie Chan isn't in it much, his fight scenes are as dynamic and skillful as ever, so if you're a Chan fan, you'll still get your money's worth (which is no money, since it's on Youtube)! Check out our review, drinking game and cocktail here!
Erin go bragh from Alcohollywood! To celebrate everyone's favorite drinking holiday, we invoke the luck of the Irish with the Hallmark TV special The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, a three-hour epic slog starring Whoopi Goldberg and Randy Quaid! The movie follows a dumpy American visiting Ireland, falling in love, and interfering with the class warfare of magical Irish creatures. Along the way, we see a bevy of beloved Irish and Scottish actors shaming themselves, while terrible special effects and school-play production design assaults the eyes. Luckily, we've got just the drink and game to endure the magical legend in time for St. Patty's Day!
This week on Alcohollywood, we revisit the Coen brothers for the first time since our Big Lebowski episode, watching and drinking to the 2000 joyride O Brother, Where Art Thou? with our buddy Grant (of Chip and Ironicus and Let's Play Dungeons and Dragons)! A mythic melange of The Odyssey, Southern folklore, the Great Depression, and your standard road movie, the film follows a trio of escaped convicts (George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) who embark on a journey across 1937 Mississippi to find treasure and bring Clooney back to his lady love (Holly Hunter).
Along with the crew of Coen Brothers characters along the way (a one-eyed John Goodman, a blind Stephen Root, Michael Badalucco, and others), O Brother also features fantastic color-corrected cinematography by Roger Deakins, a killer soundtrack by T-Bone Burnett, and the wonderfully offbeat script from the Coens themselves. If you haven't seen this film, you owe it to yourself to check it out, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game!