Friday, January 22, 2021

Blood Of The Vines - Getting Small

Pairing‌‌ ‌‌wine‌‌ ‌‌with‌‌ ‌‌movies!‌‌  ‌‌See‌‌ ‌‌the‌‌ ‌‌trailers‌‌ ‌‌and‌‌ ‌‌hear‌‌ ‌‌the‌‌ ‌‌fascinating‌‌ ‌‌commentary‌‌ ‌‌for‌‌ ‌‌these‌‌ ‌‌‌ movies‌,‌ ‌‌and‌‌ ‌‌many‌‌ ‌‌more‌,‌ ‌‌at‌‌ ‌‌Trailers‌‌ ‌‌From‌‌ ‌‌Hell.‌‌ This week's triple play of classic films are about getting small.  Steve Martin had the smallness concept in his stand-up act way back when - "Let’s get small…" - but the examples of "small getting" in these films were not for recreational purposes.

The 1966 fantasy, Fantastic Voyage, features a team of miniaturized specialists who are injected into a scientist to clear up a blood clot in his brain.  They race against the clock, as the "getting small" effect lasts only a short time.   Along with Stephen Boyd, Edmund O'Brien, Donald Pleasence and  Arthur Kennedy, Raquel Welch is a co-star.  The miniature Raquel, by the way, looks as good as life-size.  There is a Cold War slant to this mid-60s offering, with Rooskie commies serving as the bad guys.

Let's do a cocktail for Fantastic Voyage, one that stole the name from the movie.  The Fantastic Voyage cocktail is one of those recipes that infuriates me, because I don't keep Japanese whisky, Vanille de Madagascar or lightning bolt shaped orange peel around the house.  I'm lucky to have the Riesling and the club soda on hand.  Home mixologists, enjoy.

1987’s Innerspace drew its inspiration from Fantastic Voyage.  The story follows another miniaturization experiment gone wrong.  The film was directed by TFH head guru Joe Dante, so I suppose I had better write some nice things about Innerspace or suffer retribution from the boss!  Only kidding.  Joe rarely beats the staff, and even then only until morale improves.

Here's a surprise - Innerspace beer.  It comes from Huntsville, Alabama and promises suds for the final frontier.  They seem focused on outer space, but their menu looks tasty.  

The Incredible Shrinking Man brightened up 1957.  The story has a guy - exposed to a misty fog - getting smaller and smaller until you need an electron microscope to see him.  The special effects guys worked overtime on this one.  Loyalists will praise the shrunken man's confrontation with a house cat and his battle with a spider - both much larger than him.

Incredibly - pardon the pun - Mr. Shrinking Man would not get a girlfriend until decades later, when The Incredible Shrinking Woman would try playing the small scenario for laughs.

Joie de Vivre Wines has a Shrunken Head Red, which may or may not answer your questions of how that head was shrunk.  I'm betting it didn't float in on a fog.


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