Tuesday 2 February 2010

The Ginternet Movie Database

The Ladies of The Lane have, as ever, fully immersed themselves in Awards season.  We were of course delighted to be invited to the Golden Globes (this is a fib) - it was a wonderful night - and we are very much looking forward to attending the Oscars (this is too).  Our vintage Valentino couture gowns have been steamed to within an inch of their lives, and we've had the help polish our Chopard diamonds special like.

All that's left is to sit back and await the big night.  This lead us to thinking about gin, of course, but gin in Hollywood, so we've compiled a list of our favourite Hollywood gin references for you.  We'd like to thank our families, Miller's, Hendrick's, Bombay Sapphire, and of course the Academy.

 
I'm No Angel (1933)
Mae West's character Tira is caught up in an elaborate thievery plot, "Like an olive in a dry martini".

 
The Thin Man (1934)
Nominated for 4 Oscars
According to Nick Charles (played by William Powell), "a dry martini you always shake to Waltz time."

 
After Office Hours (1935)
A gratuitous excuse to mention the glorious Clark Gable and Constance Bennett, who spend a fabulous proportion of the movie drinking dry martinis with one olive.

 
Every Day's A Holiday (1937)
Nominated for 1 Oscar
Another Mae West film, here Charles Butterworth tells Charles Winninger, "You ought to get out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini."  This famous phrase was repeated in 'The Major and The Minor' (1942) - when Robert Benchley asks Ginger Rogers, "why don't you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini".

 
Dark Victory (1939)
Nominated for 3 Oscars
Bette Davis favours the 'Pink Gin' cocktail in this film.  Here's how to drink like Bette:
1. Swish 3 dashes of Agnostura Bitters around a chilled martini glass. 
2. Pour in 2 measures of chilled gin.  
3. Drink.

Casablanca (1942)
Winner of 3 Oscars, Nominated for a further 5 Oscars
Rick (Humphrey Bogart): "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

Dr. No (1962)
Winner of 1 Golden Globe
You knew it was coming - Bond, James Bond.  The classic "Shaken, not stirred" line was first mentioned in 1962's 'Dr. No', but not ordered by Bond himself until 'Goldfinger' in 1964.  Of course we all know that this 'ere is a vodka martini - two words which shouldn't really be placed together, in our opinion.

Withnail & I (1987)
Withnail (Richard E Grant): "Two large gins, two pints of cider. Ice in the cider."

 
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Nominated for 1 Oscar, 2 Golden Globes, and 1 Grammy
Sofia (Penelope Cruz): "I think she's the saddest girl to ever hold a martini."

4 comments:

  1. One of my favourites is from the fabulous Bette Davis in All About Eve. Her servant Birdie asks:

    "There’s a message from the bartender. Does Miss Channing know she ordered domestic gin by mistake?”

    and Margo replies:

    “The only thing I ordered by mistake is the guests. They’re domestic, too, and they don’t care what they drink as long as it burns!”

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  2. "And the winner is........"
    (Though I cannot forgive the lapse in taste which allowed the Gin Lane Ladies to include anything from the terrible Vanilla Sky!)

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  3. We are nothing if not democratic darling! It's a terrible film, but a brilliant line.

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  4. mae west
    oh how I love thee, the outfits , the laugh , that slight alcoholism
    sigh
    one day I too will be that brassy

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