Truth to Power
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, we dip into the rich pool of satire for three films that tell it like it was. We’ll have wine pairings for each.
The Great Dictator, from 1940, satirizes Hitler, Mussolini, and the whole concept of fascism. Why is it that fascists always have physical traits and mannerisms which lend themselves to satire so readily? We never saw Bill Paxton do a turn as Hitler, and we don’t expect to see Paul Rudd frothing at the mouth from a balcony. Just a little fascist food for thought.
Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, and starred in The Great Dictator. It was his first effort in a movie featuring dialog, and he really made the most of it. That fiery speech Chaplin delivers, dressed as the Hitler lookalike is memorable. “Soldiers! In the name of democracy! Let us all unite!” That’s the way to close out your fascist satire.
Vini Lunardelli bottles wine with a face of fascism on the front. Wines like Der Fuhrer and Il Duce, he says, are historical artifacts, not calls to action. Authorities in Germany and Austria don’t really believe him, and his wines are reportedly banned there. I can’t speak for you, but I’m not buying a wine “dedicated to Hitler and Nazi Germany.” Besides, it’s just cheap Merlot.
https://www.vinilunardelli.com/en/shop
1942’s To Be Or Not to Be is regarded as a comedy classic today, but it wasn’t always so. The satire of the Jack Benny/Carol Lombard vehicle missed the mark for many at the time of its release. There was something about people not finding the humor when it’s wrapped in a Nazi uniform. To be fair, there was a camp that saw the film for what it was, so the verdict at the time was mixed.
I have wondered how a Beloved Entertainer like Benny ended up in the lead role of the play-within-the-movie, Gestapo. He was really a comedian who played to the cornfields, not the ivy. Well, director Ernst Lubitsch reportedly wrote the role with Benny in mind, which so impressed the comedian that he jumped at the chance to become Josef Tura.
The movie’s troupe of actors plays the part of Hitler’s goons so well that they even fool Hitler. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, serve Veuve Clicquot and call it Dom. You’ll save about $250 and still get all the bubbles you want.
https://www.veuveclicquot.com/en-us
James Coburn scored in 1967 with The President’s Analyst. Does the current president have an analyst? “What analyst? I don’t need an analyst! But if I did have an analyst it would be the biggest, most beautiful analyst the world has ever known.” And probably blonde.
Although technically a psychiatrist, Adam Arkin’s Stanley Keyworth on The West Wing is what I would like the President’s analyst to be. Trustworthy, loyal, and loaded with sarcasm. And, able to solve your mental health problem in 42 billable minutes.
Analyst runs a bit longer, but it doesn’t seem like it. Imagine the secrets an analyst to the president would have. Imagine how many people would like to get those secrets. Imagine the lengths someone would go to for that information. Coburn’s character imagines all that, and more. His tangle with The Phone Company is the stuff of which nightmares are made. Of course, today we sweat out what Google knows about us. And, of course, Google knows everything about us.
Pairing a wine with James Coburn could be as easy as saying “Cockburn’s Port.” Of course, that works better when you actually say it instead of reading it in print. How about a wine called The Therapist? Imagine how I felt when that fell into my lap. Slate Theory makes the white blend of Muscat Blanc and Muscat Canelli in the Texas Hill Country. $32 gets you well.
Randy Fuller
NowAnd Zin Wine – www.nowandzin.com
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