Back on Wednesday 8th February, in that 'difficult' period of time between the discovery of Nicola Bulley and my epic trip to Norfolk (hey, we've all got to have a timeline), I watched this rousing classic of such quality, I'm promoting it straight into my top ten all time Westerns.
Following on from the previous week's limp duck which was The Keeping Room and a slightly below par Temperanilo, I needed a #WWWSI reaction. And I got one!
Problems early doors as I realised I didn't have a Wotsit in the house, so I trekked down to the local Happy Shopper / B&T which I know do a great crisp range.
Since my last visit, they've 'upgraded' to those annoyingly large single 'grab bags' so I got two varieties of Wotsit and two additional classics. I'm ashamed to say that I scoffed the lot over the next two days.
My Keto diet definitely seemed to be on the backburner tonight as over in Sainsbury's, I panicked and bought a giant 'pizza for two'. I scoffed the lot.
I was recovering from man-flu, hence the drugs and honey & lemon on stand by.
And to complete the foodie ensemble, I did a few healthier entrees whilst the pizza cooked .....
Of course, I scoffed the lot. After all, I had to get back to full strength pre-Norwich. Maybe spinach would've been better than rocket for the full Popeye effect.
After all, it was important to soak up the wine, this week we had a muscly 13.5%er from Croatia. Teran was the grape.
Kozlovic was the wine name, 2021 the vintage, which is just as well because my red wine bible told me it doesn't age particularly well. Wanna hear what a bloke called Bruno thinks of it? Course you do ......
Fascinating stuff, apart from the Michael Jackson reference.
Why can't beer be this much fun? (that's a different Michael Jackson).
I loved this Teran, much better than last weeks disappointment. Was a bit worried it'd taste of farming and metal like my book says, but I just got dark fruity fruits like if you put a pint of ESB in a blender with Strongbow Dark Fruits and a Bradfield Belgian Blue.
All that was missing were a few tunes (not the throat sweets). I discover an Uncle Matt tape which I'd had no recollection of receiving - a real bonus. It contains a selection of instrumental obscurities, possibly due to me mentioning how much I'd enjoyed the Herb Alpert stuff.
It requires further listens but stuff like this helped it get off to a good start .....
The oven pinged and it was time to go through for the main event .....
The soundtrack is one of the most famous things about The Big Country, grabs you from the start like you've just saddled up, giant pizza and wine in hand, and you are riding across the desert. Only 53rd on my list? You're havin' a laugh!
There's this bloke called Mackay who returns from a pub ticking expedition at sea to be with his fiancé, played by Jean Simmons from KISS. But when he realises she's a bit of a bitch, and her Dad is a total knobber, he runs off with the far superior (and coincidentally, wealthy) schoolteacher.
Mackay winds them up further with his chill attitude towards the family's rivalry with the Hennessey's (not Wayne) across the way. Jean Simmons wants him to fight them 'like a real man' but he's like 'don't care luv'.
Mackay also learns to ride this awkward bull, all secretively, just to prove he can do manly stuff, but he has a lot of help from a Mexican lad who ends up dying in real life before the film is released, which is sad.
And then Mackay and Julie the Schoolie proper shithouse the lot of them by buying this bit of land called 'Big Muddy' and gifting half of it to the Hennessey's, led by Charlton Heston probably sulking cos he isn't the star of the film, and ends up they aren't so bad once you get to know them, and Jean Simmons lot are worse.
Great stuff, and we did have one brief pub moment. Boring name, 'Saloon' was the 50's equivalent of 'Cask Bar', 'The Pub', or 'Craft Beer' and I'm not sure we saw inside but I hear it has Doom Bar, Directors and a rotating guest from Lancaster or Bowland.
And that was it. Really enjoyed film and wine and food. A rare win-win-win!
Can we repeat it this coming Wednesday? I'll be watching Deadwood : The Movie ranked 11th, drinking Touriga Nacional wine from Portugal if it arrives in time, and eating a free pizza my Mum got from Sainsbury's by mistake. Speaking of which, they sent me a 12 pack of Wotsits cos they were all out of 6 packs, so party time!
See ya later Varmints, Si
Neb's Tune is one the lost instrumental classics of the 1960s. Mainly because "Ahab & The Wailers" were really the Ted Taylor Four and looked old even at the time. The band were around THIRTY FIVE, which was far too old for the sixties. Anonymous release. Disappeared after a few plays. Happens,