Hey, didn't we just do this? I think it was only a couple of weeks ago that we had a trio of forgotten films. Actually, they weren't forgotten. We had never heard of them in the first place. How could we forget them? Well, here we are again, scrounging around in our digital streamers trying to find out what these flicks are all about anyway. At least we have wine.
In 2016 Richard Gere appeared as Norman. The full title adds The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, so you get the spoiler right there on the one-sheet. It's an Israeli film which also features Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Hank Azaria, to give you an idea of the kind of talent in this picture.
Norman is a low-level fixer, a quid pro quo man, a you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-someone-else's-back-for-you kind of guy. He connects with a man who becomes prime minister of Israel, and finds new doors opening everywhere for his favors. That sort of life eventually wears a person down. Ask Michael Cohen. No matter how much you do for someone, it's never enough. Until it's too much.
If you have ever wanted to see a rabbi throw a guy into a pile of trash, this is your movie. If you have ever left home without your Epi pen, this film gives you something else to think about.
Kentucky's Chenault Vineyards makes a Concord grape wine called Sam's Fix It Juice. More serious drinkers can try Richard Gere's Brunello, made by Tenuta San Filippo di Montalcino.
1999's Spring Forward features Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber as two guys working in city maintenance. One of them is fresh out of prison. The other one has the end of his life breathing down his neck. They couldn't be more different, but they find a way to be important in each other's lives. It sounds like A Very Special Chico and the Man, but the movie was well-received, even by critics, and deserves to be found, not forgotten.
Sunset Cellars makes a Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel which they call Daylight Saving Wine. The grapes are harvested at "fall-back" time, but you can drink it all year long.
The Hatchet Man is from 1932, which means it is pre-code. It is also pre-woke, as the cast full of Chinese characters are all played by Caucasians instead of Asians. How Caucasian? Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young, that’s how Caucasian. There is a lot of eye makeup in this film. At the time, Hollywood thought that audiences wouldn't accept big stars made up to look Asian if they were on screen right next to real Asians. So they kept the big stars and got rid of all the real Asians.
It was a time before the Hays Code restricted what Hollywood could show on the silver screen. This one has illicit sex, drugs and a guy who serves Buddha by throwing a hatchet. Get comfortable with a big bowl of popcorn. You're in for a treat.
The film was directed by William Wellman, whose 1927 film Wings won the very first Best Picture Oscar. Wellman's directorial career spanned four decades, and he won an Oscar in 1973, Best Original Story for A Star Is Born. Oh, yeah. He co-wrote the original version in 1937.
A wine pairing for a movie set in San Francisco's Chinatown might have once included a wine made from tiger bones, or worse parts of the tiger. However, China is now a major wine nation, although they are more infatuated with Bordeaux than their own rice or plum wines. Ao Yun is one of the premier producers in China. Their Bordeaux blend is made from grapes grown in Shangri-La, in the foothills of the Himalayas. and has a price tag north of $300 for the 2013 vintage.
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