How could it be that the film generally regarded as 'the high point of independent 90s cinema' (cos Wikipedia said so) be so difficult to get hold of?
Not on Amazon video, not available to buy on DVD on Amazon or similar, I found myself drunkenly trawling Ebay until eventually, I spied a second hand copy being sold by a shady German bloke with a small moustache and not much of a profile.
Full credit to him, service was as swift and efficient as much as the stereotyping allows, and despite the German language on the sleeve, the film was in English, and German subtitles were only 'strongly suggested' for your viewing pleasure.
I'd had to get the second most difficult Good Beer Guide (1979) from a German bloke called De Souza, so I was used to my Fritzies bailing me out of a tight spot.
The film was ranked #21 on my list, apparently better than the likes of McCabe & Mrs Miller, Bone Tomahawk and The Magnificent Seven so I was expecting big things.
Walking in a Wotsit Wonderland
Regular readers will know all about my recent 'unlucky' Wotsit dice rolling. Don't get me wrong, I love the crisps (baked maize based snacks?) but having rolled a 4, 5 or 6 in each of the past eight weeks, a '1' today was a real reprieve. After all, you can have too much of a good thing.
Lamb in the Pan
Food-wise, I followed the pairing with this week's wine (which I am coming to), so fried a lamb steak in the pan, with a bit of rosemary as per Emily at work's suggestion. I didn't have a clove of garlic sadly, that had all gone at Hallowe'en warding off those creatures of the night.
I followed the instructions to the letter, but it was very pink inside (is lamb really supposed to be like steak?) and was just a bit too chewy to be properly enjoyable.
With only one bag of Wotsits on the agenda, I put together a little board of cheese, bread, crackers etc. to keep the wolf from the door.
Sheep's cheese called 'Parlick Fell', that is a new one on me (interesting, lacked a bit of oomph). A bit of duck & orange pate. Some weird Jacobs crackers I've never seen before. Boursin. Rocket leaves, a few stuffed peppers, and sourdough bread drizzled in olive oil. Nice! Was craving more Wotsits by 10pm, just shows I'm never happy!
Do You Have the Time, To Listen to Me Wine?
With the lamb sizzling away , and the music in full swing, including great tracks like Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean, Big Iron by Marty Robbins and Sky Men by Geoff Goddard, it was time to crack open this week's wine. Now let us consult the book ......
Gamay, and if you haven't heard of it, you may have heard of Beaujolais which is the region it is grown in. People have kept trying to ban it at various points in history, most famously Philip II of Burgundy in 1395 who reckoned it caused Coronavirus or something and tried to wreck all the vines. Never trust a Philip.
To make things more confusing, there are TEN types of the stuff, so I chose the Brouilly (pronounced Brew? Yay!) of Bel Air, cos it sounded big, plump and fruity. A bit like Uncle Phil (now there IS a Phil you can trust). It took a little bit of getting into it, but I was loving it by the second glass!
Being a 'school night' (Thursday), I was conscious of the need for an early start so was settled down to watch the film for 7pm. I needed to be feeling fresh like a Fresh Prince in the morning so the usual water jug was at my disposal, though I forgot the ice cubes for the first time ever! Never again.
Time to go through for the main event ......
And isn't it nice to see the film sponsored by a Nottinghamshire real ale brewery?
Lone Star lived up to all expectations, definitely one of the finest films I have seen to date. A really strong all rounder.
Because I'm a basic bitch, it took me a while to work out what was going on, and the constant, seamless flashbacks to the olden days sometimes confused me, but that is my fault, not the films.
It told the story of a new sheriff, in the shadow of his legendary father sheriff who he'd never got along with, but when he goes digging into the past, he realises his Dad wasn't quite the hero all the locals wanted to believe.
The sheriff who preceded his Dad was a total baaarstard though, as we say in Australia, and was horrible to Mexicans and African Americans. The racial angle, plus a dollop of feminism, and a nice love story which wasn't overdone unlike my lamb just meant the film had a bit of everything, 2020 audiences would lap it up, and a bit like Near Dark but without vampires, it had that 'cult classic' neo-Western feel to it.
Next week and A.O.B.
You can tell we are in a second lockdown, been such an effort getting wine delivered in a timely manner. Had a late reprieve today, so all systems go for tomorrow evening. I may not be strictly following the checklist for the first time!
Food will be pizza. The wine is from France again, via the Isle of Wight. Film is El Dorado (1967, not the short lived soap opera) #63 on my list, but still gets top reviews. Wotsits? Well, I might just 'experiment' a bit here so watch this space.
Up to 42 followers so I'd like to say a big welcome to my latest batch of followers. Polly 'the Jolly Pistol' Sharp, Vaux 'The Wanderer' Wanderer, Dave 'Boomtown' Basic, Reg 'Reload' Whispers, Joydip 'Jump the Gun' Basu and James 'The Mighty Canary' Asbury. Probably all found me through BRAPA. Thanks all.
I'll do a Twitter Tweet tomorrow evening as I settled down for Week 20 so look out for that.
Thanks for reading, Si