#97: Bringing Up Baby and a Sidecar

In summer of 2015, we cut the cord on cable, kicking off six months of series binge-watching across a multitude of platforms, from Amazon to Netflix to HBO. As we rounded into 2016, the age old question of “What do you want to watch tonight?” had started to test the both of us on a daily basis.  So we made the New Year’s resolution to watch the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest American Films of All Time in order from 100 to 1.  We’ll be reviewing each one as we go, drinking a smidge along the way, and eating with the theme when the mood strikes.  I hope you’ll join us!

Bringing Up Baby

Released: 1938

Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant

Running Time: 102 minutes

Tagline: And so begins the hilarious adventure of Professor Huxley and Miss Susan Vance, a flutter-brained vixen with love in her heart!

Summary: A zoology professor seeking a grant for his work is pursued by an eccentric heiress and her pet Leopard, Baby.

What We’re Drinking: The classic Sidecar

This movie is fabulous!  The storyline goes that soon-to-be married zoology professor, played by Cary Grant, is seeking a grant for his work from a wealthy benefactor.  In the course of courting the benefactor, he is thwarted at every turn by the flighty Susan Vance, played by Katharine Hepburn.  She sets her sights on the professor and through a series of increasingly absurd events, punctuated by the escape of a tame pet Leopard, Baby, Grant discovers that he might never make it to his scheduled wedding to his assistant, and that he might not even care!

The rapid fire, hilarious dialogue is executed with the perfect comedic timing of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.  The circumstances they find themselves in are preposterous, but are handled as if they are normal every day occurrences – think locked in a jail cell while not one, but two leopards pace outside the cell.  The physical humor is also on point, whether it be Grant and Hepburn sashaying through a room connected at the hips to keep Hepburn’s backside from exposure, or Hepburn hanging precariously from a dinosaur skeleton as Cary tries to hold on to her. Hepburn is charmingly intelligent and Cary is adequately befuddled, especially when wearing a women’s sheer robe.  All in all – a great movie.

Overall Rating:  8 Out of 10

Drink Recipe: Sidecar

Ingredients:        1.5 oz Cognac

                           1 oz Cointreau

                           1 oz fresh lemon juice

Directions:          Add all ingredients and ice into a cocktail shaker.  Stir until cold, then strain into a cocktail glass with a sugared rim.  Garnish with an orange peel.

Next Up: The Searchers