Friday, October 4, 2024

Blood Of The Vines - Babs

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 have wine pairings for a trio of films featuring everyone's favorite Babs.

Up the Sandbox, released toward the end of 1972, had Barbara Streisand as a New York City housewife and mom who escapes her mundane existence through wild fantasies. Already caring for two kids and a husband, she finds that she is pregnant again. Her eventual awakening: "You can either like me the way I am, or shove it."

Everyone liked Streisand in Sandbox, but the movie didn't exactly burn up the box office. The film was seen as fun, as opposed to "funny." Babs herself opined, after the fact, that America didn't mind seeing her as a housewife. They simply wanted her to be a funny housewife.

As Fidel Castro says to Streisand's character in a fantasy, "Would you like for some wine?" For a sandbox, why not Sand Castle Winery? It’s in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is more centered on weddings than wine, but they have rosé for $19 and Pinot Noir for $33. The countryside is beautiful, there are not quite as many Trump yard signs as in other parts of NEPA, and they offer helicopter rides to the tasting room from anywhere in the northeast. Babs would like that. I'm guessing there is an additional charge to get a chopper to the tasting, discounted if you have a wedding there. 

The version of A Star Is Born which hit the screens in 1976 was a remake of the 1937 original. It was the second of three remakes, but who's counting? The story has Janet Gaynor, er, Judy Garland, er, Lady Gaga… I'm sorry, I've got my remakes mixed. What's the name of this piece? Oh, yeah. Babs. The well-trod story has Streisand as the up-and-coming singer who hooks up with a big star and passes him on his way down. 

Sadly, we lost the male lead this week. Kris Kristofferson was 88 when he passed on Saturday. His absence may be felt more in the music world than in film, but he did a fine job as the falling star here, and also played well in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. He will be missed by many. 

Babs is featured musically, of course. The film's love theme, "Evergreen," was a giant hit. The lyrics, (love, soft as an easy chair) always made me want to get teary and violently ill, at the same time. That Paul Williams really knows how to churn out a tune. He won a Grammy and an Oscar for that one. No doubt, it paid for a lot of lunches at The Ivy.

Conveniently, there is a Barbara Streisand wine, a Chardonnay offered by Celebrity Cellars. The fact that it is a 1996 vintage is puzzling. Either they were incredibly judicious about doling it out over the decades or it didn't sell well at all. You can find out which it is, for $40. Or, you can pick up a wine from Barbara's neighborhood, Malibu. Saddlerock Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is available in various vintages for less than $60.

In 1972, director Peter Bogdanovich asked the celluloid question, What’s Up, Doc?  Bogdanovich called it a "screwball comedy, something like Bringing Up Baby: daffy girl, square professor, everything works out all right." I'm sold. Streisand was the daffy girl, Ryan O'Neal was the square professor, and all was well in the end. That's the first law of the romantic comedy. All has to end up well.

The San Francisco chase scene reportedly cost a million dollars to shoot - a quarter of the film's budget.  The title was borrowed from the Warner Brothers cartoons.  "What’s up, Doc?" was Bugs Bunny's signature line.  Look it up, youngsters.

The sorely missed Los Angeles restaurant, Cube, had on its marquee the phrase "what's up D.O.C.?"  Their partiality to Italian wines spawned that little vino pun.  D.O.C. means Denominazione di Origine Controllata, a classification of wine regions in Italy.  So let's pair a wine from the Veneto D.O.C. with What’s Up, Doc?  You can pick a Valpolicella for red lovers, or a Soave for white grape fans. Or, the Ruggeri Valdobbiadene winery makes a very fine, extra-special Prosecco from the tiny Cartizze region of Veneto. Even though it is very fine and extra special, it costs only about $20. Sure that's double the price of the Prosecco you get from Ralphs, but it's still just $20. 


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