TIKI CULTURE

The African Queen 1951 with Bogie for Mod Movie Monday

This week we take a trip down the river with Humphrey Bogart and Kathrine Hepburn on

The African Queen, 1951.

Noir at heart but filmed in Technicolor, The African Queen easily fits under Noir and Mod Movie Monday categories as it definitely deals with the darker side of humanity. Swing back to North Africa, 1914. News reaches a small German settlement that the Fatherland is at war. British missionaries are suddenly caught in the crossfire, and when Kathrine Hepburn’s character’s brother dies, she leaves the burning wreckage of her church with none other than alcoholic captain Bogie on his beat-up old jalopy of a steamer, The African Queen. Together they trek down a treacherous river full of all sorts of nasty things, including Germans with those funny little spikes sticking up out of their helmets. They catch wind that a German warship is anchored at the mouth of the river, and Hepburn does all she can (in the eyes of God) to sober up Bogie and get him to help her find a way to destroy the ship.

The African Queen

One of Bogie’s finest roles, he is very convincing as a gin-swilling roughneck. That may have something to do with the fact that while they filmed this flick in the jungles of Africa, Humphrey Bogart and director John Huston stuck to a steady diet of baked beans, canned asparagus and Scotch whiskey. There was a method to their madness…they were the only two from the cast and crew that made it through filming without getting dysentery or malaria. This included Hepburn, who drank only water and had dysentery so bad they had to keep a bucket next to the camera.

There is some great trivia on The African Queen at IMDB.

The African Queen dry-docked in Key Largo, FL

Just as the ’58 Plymouth Fury was a character in Christine and the pimped-out Dunham Coach Eldorado was a character in Superfly, so was the little steamer The African Queen (I suppose this turn of the name was to indicate the double meaning, as Hepburn’s character also acted like the Queen of Africa). The boat had already been in actual service for 4o years when they used it for the film, and went on for many years after working hard along the river. Today the boat is still in service…it’s docked in Key Largo, FL just off the Overseas Highway (US 1). It’s on display, looking very close to the way it did in the movie, and is available for charters. It’s really no where near as big as it looks in the movie. Kind of funny that it would end up in Key Largo, with Bogie’s connection to that island with his 1948 movie.

Booze: Gin. British Gin.

Here’s the trailer from 1951…

- Tiki Chris reporting from the jungles behind The Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, South Florida

Orson Welles Directs The Stranger, 1946 for Noir Movie Monday

Edward G. Robinson as a Federal Detective. Post-war Nazi plots. Deceit, murder, and clocks. Orson Welles directs this classic 1946 Noir thriller in a way other directors only dreamed of. Even the title takes on a new meaning as the story unfolds in

The Stranger, 1946

starring Edward G. Robinson, Orson Welles, and Loretta Young.

The film opens darkly as authorities plan to find and capture Franz Kindler (played by Welles), the heartless mastermind of the Holocaust. Kindler managed to evade capture, erase his identity, leading him to take up life as a professor in a small town in Connecticut. (Remember, this is 1946, the time when Nazi atrocities were first coming to light and war criminals were being hunted around the globe). Robinson’s character eventually tracks Kindler down…I won’t tell you how here, as that would give away the whole story…

As you’d expect from a classic, every scene is filmed artistically, bringing together perfect camera angles with deliberate-styled acting to achieve a final print that holds up 65 years later.

It’s also a wonderful window into small-town life in pre-television days. People spend their time listening to the radio, or playing checkers with the local general store/diner owner. It might as well have been a million years ago, compared to today’s world.

Exceptional performances by Robinson, Young and Welles combined with a fantastic story and true Noir filming make The Stranger a five-coconut winner at the Tiki Lounge.

-Tiki Chris Pinto reporting from the theater, down the avenue from Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar.

Neo-Noir Movie Monday: Frank Miller’s Sin City, 2005

Every once in a while a kool new flick comes along that gives us a taste of yesteryear with the hard, tough and uncensored edge of today’s film making. One such flick is

Frank Miller’s Sin City, 2005

If you haven’t seen Sin City, I highly recommend it. We’re talking about a fantastic mix of real, old-style Noir/pulp fiction infused with modern digital effects and contemporary shooting. Director Robert Rodriguez (Machete, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Grindhouse) digs down deep into the dark and nasty side of human nature, bringing to life Frank Miller’s graphic novel of twisted maniacs, sexy hookers and debaucherous lunatics.

The movie, in true Noir fashion, is filmed in black and white – with modern splashes of color added in for a stunning visual effect. Artsy camera angles and lighting perfectly frame every shot. Multiple plot lines converge, and the action is pulled off with finesse.

The really funny thing is that most of this movie was shot in front of a blue screen, with digital effects added in post production. There is a very good balance of realism and artistic graphics, giving you the sense that this really was taken from the pages of a graphic novel, and exists in a strange underworld where prostitutes carry machine guns and blood can be yellow.

This flick strays from the old-style Noir thrillers in that it contains much more graphic violence, sex, nudity, and language. Nothing is held back. Where the subtleties of mid-20th century Noir suggested violence and sex, this reel throws it in your face. Not necessarily a bad thing, but some kats might find this over-the-top style a little too much. Either way, you should check it out.

The cast is built with stars all over the place. Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, Rutger Hauer, Micheal Madsen, Clive Owen…there’s a star, a gun, or a bucket of surrealistic blood in every scene.

The story lines are pretty interesting too…not as deep as a Hitchcock thriller, but then again this movie is all about the imagery. An interesting note is how Bruce Willis’ character has a monologue at the beginning of the movie, and mirrors it at the end as his story comes full-circle. Damned good writing.

Food & Booze: To go with this Neo-Noir black and white with a splash of color theme, I’d suggest blackened chicken or steak over Fettuccine Alfredo, with diced red peppers and tomatoes. For the drinks, Black Russians and White Russians, or maybe a Black And White Martini…3 oz good vodka, 1 oz creme de cocoa, shaken (not stirred).

My Take: If I were a film maker, this would definitely be the kind of movie I’d want to make. The only thing I might do different is throw in a supernatural angle, a little paranormal fun to the mix.

The book I’m currently working on, “Murder on Tiki Island” would make a great screenplay to be produced in this style. It takes place in a mythical Tiki Resort in the Florida Keys in 1956. I could just see the characters in black and white, with the red flames from the Tiki torches dancing in the background. Who knows…maybe someday.

-Tiki Chris, reporting from the screening room at Tiki Lounge Talk. Noir and Mod Movie Mondays - a new flick every week, for retro-lovin’ kats and swingin’ kittens.

Noir Movie Monday: The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955 starring Frank Sinatra

Continuing our foray into the dark and dirty underworld of mid-20th century addicts, this week we’re diggin’ in to one of the most powerful portrayals of a heroin addict ever dared to be shown on the silver screen. From 1955,

The Man With The Golden Arm

Starring Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang, Eleanor Parker and Darrin McGavin.

Gritty, true-to-life, this movie not only shows the dark side of life, but throws it in your face. From Sinatra’s character shooting H, to showing him going “cold turkey”; from the way the pusher slowly pulls him back in; from the subtle yet obvious sexual relationship with Novak’s shady burlesque dancer character…the flick doesn’t pull any punches. Otto Preminger made it so realistic that The Motion Picture Association of America originally refused to let it fly. It wasn’t until a year later, when the by-laws were changed to allow drugs and prostitution in movies that it finally got the MPAA certification.

Sinatra and Novak

Sinatra, coming off his high from “From Here to Eternity” jumped so fast at the part that Marlon Brando didn’t have a chance to say yay or neigh. He plays the horse-addict character with such force, you’d think he was really high on heroin - and getting sick coming off of it - on film. Anyone who says Sinatra wasn’t an actor oughta have his head banged in with a hammer.

Compare this dirty, realistic portrayal of real drug addicts to the hopped-up, over-exaggerated “dope fiends” in Refer Madness and High School Confidential, and you’ll see why this movie is such a stunner.

Imagine seeing this on the big screen in 1955.

The story is about a recovering heroin addict who, just getting off a six-month vacation at a rehab prison, returns home to his invalid wife and old pals with a new look on life. While in the joint he learned how to play drums…a real natural, a guy with golden arms…and even has an audition set up with a band, to go straight. But the pressures that led him to the monkey come piling back fast, and before he knows it he’s back in his old role, dealing cards for gangsters, taking speed to stay awake, taking H to forget his troubles. You can imagine where things go from there…or you can watch the movie.

As usual, I won’t give anything away here. Let’s just say that when you’re done watching this flick, you’ll wonder why anyone would ever do drugs in the first place. It’s rough, really tough. And dark. Hence, Film Noir.

McGavin (yeah, the dad from Christmas Story) delivers one of the best lines of the flick, as the pusher: “The monkey is never dead, Dealer. The monkey never dies. When you kick him off, he just hides in a corner, waiting his turn.”

Food & Booze: I would suggest buttermilk and cold turkey.

A final note: When I was a kid, my family (who loved this movie) said it was based on the story of Gene Krupa, the swing drummer for Benny Goodman (who later had his own big band). He was supposed to be a hop-head, a horse addict who got kicked out of Goodman’s band for showing up high too many times. Since then I’ve read a lot of conflicting reports on this story, all the way down to how the movie had nothing to do with Krupa, and that he never had a monkey on his back. In fact, he had been busted on a trumped up reefer charge, and that was about it. Amazing how rumors used to fly in the old days before the interwebs, huh?

Here’s the original trailer:

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the back room…the one behind the hidden panel, in the back of that dark, shady bar you try to stay away from.

Peter Gunn, The Series 1958-1961 - A New Twist on Mod Movie Monday

Peter Gunn is available on DVD, ya dig?

(Cue mid-tempo jazz bassline)
Lay back kats, and knock your swingin’ lobes to the riffs I’m layin’ down before thee; as this week we dance to the tune of a different bongo-ist, take a beat off the beaten path and give Mod Movie Monday a little twist - a foray into the land of the groove tube, the noise box, the all-mighty television. This week I present to you for your hippest approval, that hippest of hip private dicks,

Peter Gunn

Starring Lola Albright, Hershel Bernardi, and the inimitable Craig Stevens as the swingin’ gumshoe Gunn.

There has never been, nor shall there ever be an equally jazzy, kool and quintessentially hip cop show on the airwaves. From the opening, pre-credit crime scene with swingin’ background bass and eerie horns, to the slick late ’50s ragtop that Gunn motorvated around in, to the sultriest if sultry atomic blonde bombshells Edie Hart as the jazz joint’s singer, Peter Gunn just oozes with dark kool.

Craig Stevens and Lola Albright

Imagine a cop show where the PI is a tough, good-looking Rat-Pack-era swinger who’s always in total control, even when he pushes the line between legit and vigilante. Instead of driving a cop sedan, he drives a sleek convertible. He dresses sharp and hangs out at a jazz club with the musicians and has a thing going with the smokin’ girl singer, a swingin’ chick if ever there was one. Throw on top of that the fact that he’s a damned good detective, and his notoriety helps him gain the potatoes he needs to lead his swingin’ lifestyle, and you’ve got the makings of one hell of a TV series - good enough to last 114 episodes.

Thanks to our pal Blake Edwards, the style of the show holds up 50 years later. A Noir undertone driven by a jazz beat and purposely subtle acting, Peter Gunn is considered one of the best stylistic TV dramas of the time.

The Jazz, man, it’s all about that swingin’ background jazz, the musical soundtrack that very often came out of the background and coolly slid into the spotlight whenever Gunn entered Mother’s Jazz Club on the waterfront. Several scenes featured the hipster musicians getting in the groove with their sexy singer, Edie, riffing out tunes by Henry Mancini, played in the style of The Modern Jazz Quintet and Dave Brubeck. Peter Gunn is credited as being

Peter Gunn Album, 1958

the first TV show to have a custom designed soundtrack (all others used stock music up until then), and the resulting Peter Gunn album stayed at #1 on the charts for 10 weeks (and is still a best seller today). That unforgettable theme has been used so many times since then that even kids who never heard of the show know that krazy piano intro and those blaring horns. Oh, and by the by…that piano intro…was originally played by another kat you may have heard of, a young pup by the name of John Williams.

Style aside, the series was ahead of its time in the ’50s, and still holds up as great to watch today. The crimes were never sugar-coated…murder, drugs, all of it right out there lightened only by an occasionally funny hipster character who was so way out there you had to chuckle. In my opinion, the only thing that would have made this show better was if they didn’t have to squeeze it into a half hour. An hour would have done it much more justice.

Splash Screen before and after commericals, Peter Gunn

And what beat-era libations and repast doth thou deal out during said performance? ’50s hipsters were all about trying new things…which of course, are now old things. Maybe some cucumber sandwiches, with sour cream/dill dipping sauce. Maybe some mini spinach quiches wrapped in bacon. Pretzel rods with mustard. Finger sandwiches of smoked oysters or salmon spread. Kooky stuff like that. Serve Port, or Sambucca, or Galliano over the rocks. Or if you can get your hands on it, Absinth. Top it off with fresh pineapple, mango and coconut over vanilla ice cream for dessert. And don’t forget to smoke a pack of Camels before the show ends, dig?