All About Eve / Old Ezra 7 Barrel Strength

0:01 In 1950, director Joseph, mankiewicz and star Betty Davis gave the world. A Cutthroat tale of a manipulative young woman determined to rise to the top in 2021 Luxe. Go revives an old brand at Barrel proof. The film is All About Eve. The whiskey is old, Ezra seven-year Barrel strength and we'll review them both. This is the film and wiste podcast. Welcome to the film and whiskey podcast, where each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and this week we are looking at the 1950, Best Picture Winner.

0:59 All About Eve. Nice peachy. But I wouldn't worry too much about your heart. You can always put that award wear your heart on to be Brad. We are in the middle of a, kind of a mini series that we're doing here on movies that won the Oscar for Best Picture in the lead-up to this year's Oscars. And we've kind of been all over the place in terms of chronology, so far. But we are going back to Classic Hollywood. The Golden Age of Hollywood for this movie from 1950, and I guess I'll just kind of asked you upfront brat had you any idea. What you were getting into when you were watching this movie, like, I had you heard of it before. I had never heard of the film all about it.

1:41 You've until I saw it on this list, you know, it's one of those movies again. I feel like we've hit a few of these movies that they're on like the American Film institute's, 100, best movies ever. They're really, really well regarded by people who know classic film but they just somehow don't really have a footprint in modern day. And, you know, another one that comes to mind would be something like Double Indemnity, which was a movie that I don't think. Heard of either before we did it for the podcast and you know it's probably the most famous film Noir ever. But at the same time, like there are certain movies that just have a lot of currency, still in the culture. Like you talk about Gone With the Wind, you talk about Citizen Kane or Casablanca. People know what you're talking about, even if they've not seen the movie, All About Eve is not one that I would expect a lot of our listeners will have seen. Yeah and honestly Bob I don't really blame them like as you were talking about it its lack of a cultural footprint. Ain't having now seen the movie.

2:35 I think I can kind of understand why. Oh, oh, okay. Is this a brad G scorching-hot take coming in here? I don't know if the scorching hot Tate. I just think it's a like fairly average Phil. Wow, okay. So wow, Brad this this throws off my entire mental plan for how we were going to get through this episode. Okay, I was expecting you to like this. I love to know that my opinion has such a deep and Lasting. Testing effect upon yourself, it truly does Brad. It's what keeps me awake at night. I'm going to stare at my ceiling tonight. And just think how did Brad G not like All About Eve. One of the most universally beloved films of all time.

3:16 I feel like you'll just go through a bunch of dream sequences of. All About Eve, just like Eternal Sunshine, and it'll just haunt you forever. So, let me say this Brad because I think that there are some movies that I want you to like, more than others and that's fairly obvious. I feel like I definitely try to Draw it out of you more. This is one of those movies but not because it's like a favorite of mine. I really like this movie. I think it's a great movie. I'm probably going to come out way higher on my score than you are obviously at this point. But at the same time it's I think it's because because people haven't heard of it, I think they're less likely to go out and seek it, and try to watch it on their own. And so, you know, in my mind, I'm like, man, if we can come in here with two really glowing reviews of this movie, I think we might convince more of our listeners to go out and Watch it.

4:04 And now I'm like, Brad doesn't like it is anyone gonna go watch this movie? Do you know what I mean? Oh, 100%. And like, you know, I'm always a fan of the Arts and the theater. My God, watch the movie. If you got an extra two hours and 18 minutes on your hands, oh God. I'm but if you don't have that extra time then you know maybe go watch a different film. Go watch the first 40 percent of the Snyder cut. Yes, exactly. All right. Brad. Well, now Now, knowing now that you don't really care for this movie, I think we could just kind of throw any sort of intro out the window. Let's jump right into America's favorite segment, Brad explains.

4:44 This is the part of the podcast where Brad breaks down the movie that he has just seen often for the first time. We know that this was the first time Brad saw this movie and we know that we have a treat in store for us. In terms of how he describes a movie, he did not like Brad. As, you know, we have implemented a 60-second limit on Brad explains for this season. Do you think you can summarize this movie in under 60 seconds and older actress? Has her close-knit Circle of Friends infiltrated by a young woman who seems to be sincere and innocent and unassuming. But in reality is a conniving wolf. Trying to steal the older actresses Spotlight.

5:24 Wow, that took 17 seconds. That's it, man. That's, that's the whole film. And I knew I knew that entire plot about 5 minutes in. Into this 2 hour and 18 minutes film. Also that's it. That's a good point Brad. So this is a movie that it's a Showbiz kind of movie. It takes place in the theater scene of New York. Betty, Davis plays this older. You know, I don't say aging actress but she's entering her 40s. And as we all know, when an actress hits 40 years old as generally, the cutoff point for when they stop getting good roles. And her name is in the movie as Margo Channing, she is kind of confronted in some way by this this young upstart aunjanue who goes by the name. Of Eve Harrington and Eve kind of ingratiates herself into this close-knit, circle of important theater people in New York and by about the halfway point of the movie, you start to realize Eve is not who she says she is.

6:16 She is like you said conniving and gunning for Margo's place in the you know, the stratosphere of actresses in the New York theater scene and we know from the beginning of the movie that she succeeds at this because she's up on stage winning. An award Eve is And the whole Arc of the movie. Is how did Eve get to the point where she attained this power? We can assume that she backstabbed a lot of people and then we watch that play out Brad. I'm interested to hear what you have to say because you said you guessed this about five minutes into the movie and I can understand that in some ways this seems like a tail that we've seen a hundred times before and I'm just kind of wondering like is it because it's a simple tale and you know we do know the Contours of it or is it because we've seen People kind of rip off All About Eve for the last 70 years.

7:08 Honestly, I feel like it was the overacting of Anne Baxter. That gave it away from me. Hey, like the the way that she plays the innocent unassuming like honestly dude she reminded me of I I do not remember the actress's name but in Gone With the Wind who played the Virgin Mary character? Oh, don't don't throw my girl. Olivia de Havilland under the bus. Come on man. No, like Olivia de Havilland is great. I felt like Anne Baxter was trying to imitate her. Oh sure, sure, just be this perfect. Like nothing is wrong with me. I'm only here for your good and I just want to serve you and take care of you and it just was so over-the-top. And you know, maybe that was the script. Maybe it was her acting performance. I don't know, but it was so obvious so quickly that she was not actually there to help.

8:03 Out and care for Betty. Davis is character that I was like, oh yeah, she's just trying to steal the Limelight and once again, you said it like they made it obvious by the fact that she has the Limelight at the start C. And so mind that though, like I actually like I like what movie start out with that where you kind of know the ending and the the tale of the movie isn't about the plot so much as it is about watching these kind of characters lives. You know, fall apart around the, I mean, I found that super entertaining you Because they gave away the ending, didn't take away from my enjoyment of it. I think the struggle then is because I agree with you, I don't mind that they kind of give away the ending. And I think a lot of really great movies do that.

8:45 I think my struggle then is, I don't give a rip about anybody in this movie, like, like Betty Davis is fine. I kind of enjoyed her relationship with Bill a little bit, but there was no single relationship in this movie that I really cared about. And this movie really is all about relationships about how Everybody interacts with Betty Davis, and with Anne Baxter and I just think most of the characters are flat and uninteresting. And so and so I struggle to care a ton about what's happening, okay? I can respect that. You think the characters are flat and an interesting? I do think that one thing that I almost kind of warned you about, and I don't know, once they warned, but, like, going into this movie, you know, this is a movie about, I guess, for lack of a better word, like highfalutin people.

9:33 It's a kind of Bourgeois world that we're living in watching these theater people in New York and these really important cultural theater critics and newspaper. People all backstabbing each other and the way that they speak, it's a very affected manner of speaking. Like you can tell that all the characters in this movie are delivering dialogue. And you know, sometimes I have a problem with that, I don't so much with this script because the word play and the the quotes you get out of these characters, You are just so good. And so, like, deliciously, evil at points that I really love this script, but I do think that you have to go in understanding. Like this is not going to be realistic sounding dialogue. They're speaking words off of a page and I feel like for me, at least, once I kind of got around to that idea, I enjoyed it a lot more Z and and that didn't bother me at all. Like I guess I'm just used to older films and the fact that a lot of older films Is the actors in it just don't sound the same. You know, you have these transatlantic accents and you have these high, like you said, highfalutin snobby, writers. Like Addison DeWitt is this snobby writer and so I look at it and I just it's not even the way they talked it. I just didn't find any of the characters, all that interesting like Betty Davis is the only person who is slightly interesting but even she kind of goes History, Onyx halfway through the movie about this

11:06 girl and the way that she over plays so many different things just gets old after a while. All right, I'm sure in the end, they're all happy and you know, they're getting married and she kind of triumphs in the end / Eve. But was it worth it? I had. Oh, no, I feel like you're you understand the point of this movie really? Well, you just didn't enjoy the ride of watching it. Yeah. 100 percent. All right. And again, like sometimes we run into that like you know, I did not, I will never really be on board with the movie 2001. It is one of the probably ten, most revered movies, ever made by any filmmaker in any language ever, and I have watched that movie.

11:49 I don't know, six seven times. Now it I just can't crack it. It is to impenetrable for me to appreciate and you know, I know that I am in the minority on that one and Brad. It sounds like, you know that you're in the minority on this one. And I guess the question for us then is like, where do we go from here? I think we probably should talk about these performances a little bit because, especially, with Betty, Davis has character Margo. We're talking about one of the iconic screen performances of all time and not just because of the way that he Davis plays it. But because of this really great dialogue, that Joe mankiewicz wrote for her, you know, that that line where she goes up the stairs and turns around and says fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night, is one of the most quoted American movie quotes.

12:33 Ever, and I think it's worth talking about these performances. Brad, even if you found things in them that you disliked. So let's start right at the top. Let's start with Betty Davis. This is the first Betty Davis film that we've done on this podcast. You know, one of the iconic actresses in movie. History. What did you think of her here? Honestly? I think one of the strengths of her performance wasn't necessarily something that she specifically did the costuming department, did a heck of a job of making her look like a walk. Washed up super rough aging actress like interesting. Like the moment she came on screen I was just kind of like poof like well, yeah.

13:13 The big as they can get on her number on her because they kind of come in on her backstage where she's like, applying lotions and stuff to her face and her makeup is very stripped down and yeah, you're right. Yeah. So honestly, I think one of the best parts of the movie was the costuming for her to kind of play up this character of like an aging star. Whose No slightly losing her grip a little bit. The main thing I really liked about her performance itself was the one scene that she has with Karen in the car when the heat goes out. It was the only time that you see her be really sincere and honest and I think in that moment you kind of understand why Bill loves her. And again let's let's just I don't mean hit pause on you here, Brad.

13:57 But we've dropped a couple character names that we have not actually talked about yet. So like you mentioned bill. You mentioned Karen. So, Karen is Margo's best friend. Betty Davis, his best friend in the movie, who is the wife of Lloyd? Lloyd is the playwright of all the plays that she's in. And Betty Davis is boyfriend's, name is Bill. Bill is a director of all the plays that she's been in, right? And at, you know, at a certain point in the film, when everybody still believes What's an Baxter's characters named Eve? I'll all about all about easy. That's it. Is this how you could tell when Brad dislikes, a movie? What's the title? Character's name that guy that mad at guy that sat on the bench and ate a box of chocolates? What the fuck was his name?

14:43 Yeah, Kim. I don't remember, no, no, that's Pope fastball fiction. Wow, dude, I can't believe we just moved from. 1850s All About Eve tonight. Thank you. Thank you - Pulp Fiction. That's a big old. If there should be a new recurring segments like a six degrees of separation. Like can we get to the Gimp in six steps or less? Do you just think about that for a second? And it was only 45 years. We went from a movie like All About Eve to the movies. I can't fix it.

15:23 Yeah, yeah. Oh, man. So anyway, Betty Davis is in the car with Karen. Yes. And they're having a conversation that you really liked. Yeah. So Betty Davis and Karen are in the car and Karen has basically screwed. Over Betty Davis, who is famous for her Iron Man like run of never missing a show, right? She's this leading star actress in the theater and she never misses a show and Karen being a little bit spiteful and feeling angry with with Margo. But Davis's character decides to kind of screw over and force her to miss a show. So that Eve has a chance as her understudy to perform and in the end, Karen kind of realizes In This Moment, Like no, like Betty Davis is is finally kind of coming to her senses and finally growing up a little bit.

16:16 And in that moment I was really just super impressed by Celeste Holm right that she the look of horror on her face. And when she realizes, like, oh my gosh, like I kind of just messed up my best friend's career, you know, obviously not her Legacy, but like, I just like, put the final nail in the coffin for her. That that moment is just really beautiful. Now, that was probably one of the few moments of the movie where I was engaged and caring about the characters. All right? So that takes us into talking about the character of Eve played by Anne Baxter. Now it sounds Brad like you did not buy Eve for a second and part of me is like I understand where you're coming from, because I do think that this character is kind of the the biggest broadest character in the movie. Like she plays innocent, she plays Evil. And yet I'm kind of like okay is it overplayed or are we as an audience supposed to know that this is all an act that she's putting on from the beginning?

17:19 You know what I mean? Like I can't tell if it's if it's just that am Baxter went like way too big with this performance. Or if they were trying to clue Us in from the beginning that like this is not what it seems to the characters in the movie. Addison wants me to play it Over My Dead Body, that won't be necessary. Addison knows how Margo happened to miss that performance, how I happen to know, she'd miss it in time to call him and notify every paper in town. It's quite a story that isn't could make quite a thing of it. Imagine how snide and vicious. He could get and still tell nothing but the truth. I had a Time persuading him. You better sit down.

18:00 You look at wobbly. No, I see what you're saying. I think that. I don't know. I don't lie. Don't know, and it's hard. It's also hard to know for me because I don't know the 1950s audience. Hey, you know, like did mankiewicz have a audience in mind that would believe her character and just like unwittingly go. Yeah, sure. Like, are we just a lot more cynical in 2021? Actually? That's a dumb question. We are a lot more cynical in. O'Neill. I don't know if I would agree with that. I don't know man. 1950s. We had just won the war. Well, so like that. Now, go ahead do a finisher point. I'm sorry, we had just won the war, like, we're all buying houses in the suburbs and like American culture was like really On The Rise, you know, in their own eyes.

18:47 So I feel like back then we were much more trusting of movie characters than we would have been now. I think that there's a, there's an extent to which you're right, but I also see this movie and a Other movies that came out around the same time as really important, kind of culturally for where Hollywood went in the 50s. So like in the 1940s, the big new thing that happened was the film Noir, right? Like, in the 1930s, you had the Warner Brothers, gangster pictures with Jimmy Cagney and Edward Robinson in the 40s, those transformed into your film Noir which is like Double Indemnity a bit. You know, generally about regular people who get caught up in these really kind of seedy crime.

19:28 I'm you know, situations there's a femme fatale. There's usually sex and murder which by the way. Fun fact All About Eve number 28 on the AFI top 100, Double Indemnity, number 29. There you go, you should watch them both. But what I did there one of them is a great movie. What? I was going to say though was I think by the time you get to the 1950s, there's still this really palpable sense of like extreme cynicism that you got in. War where it's like kind of Bleak kind of nihilistic really cynical all of the heroes. And those movies are the protagonist in those movies, don't trust anyone. And instead of making them be about crime, and about, you know, gangsters and things like that. They start making these kind of movies about the entertainment industry itself about Hollywood.

20:20 So All About Eve kind of comes out. It comes on 1950. It's really talking about like, the backstabbing and the cynicism in In the theater, the same near Billy Wilder comes out with his movie Sunset Boulevard, which is about kind of the same thing. But said in Hollywood in the world of movies and then all through the 1950s, you start to see these filmmakers, turn the spotlight back on Hollywood and really critique what we're starting to do as a society. So, Billy Wilder comes out with this movie in the 50s, called Ace in the Hole, which is about this guy that gets basically trapped underground in like a mine or something and it's it's really kind of a satire. It's a dark. Tire, but it's about like the media circus that ends up surrounding that and how people stop caring about. There's an actual human life hanging in the balance and they're worried about how to get better TV ratings. And you start to see like these movies, really emerge out of that period, like Ace in the Hole like later in the decade, you get movies like the sweet smell of success, like a face in the crowd and All About Eve.

21:20 I think is really kind of on The Cutting Edge here, Brad between film Noir and what you see in the later, part of the 19th. 50s where it's taking those film Noir elements and it's just applying them to a kind of a different setting. So I guess then, you know what's the critique? Oh like conniving young, you know, evil actresses bad. Well, I mean it's a morality play, right? Like I mean, it's all about the Vicious Cycle of, you know, I'm sure Margo and all of her friends have done bad things in their lives, but at the end of the day even people like Addison DeWitt the, you know, the Most nearly as evil columnist, looks at Eve at one point with horror on his face.

22:03 Like I can't believe you are sinking to the depths that you are to get what you want. And at the end of the movie you find that there's another young actress who's really, I think she goes by Phoebe or something who comes into Eve's life. And you basically start to understand the cycle is starting all over again. Now, it's going to happen to Eve what she did to other people. And I think it's just it's a very simple morality play. If you do things to people, that's what's gonna Happen to you is going to come back around on you and like, I don't know, but I don't know, but that's not what happens because in the end Margo walks off into the sunset happy as can be. Yea, sure she doesn't, she doesn't get any, you know, comeuppance for all the crappy things that she has done. Well, we don't know that she actually has done crappy things, is what I'm saying, though?

22:48 Like, I mean, she's, you know, she gets kind of snippy with her friends at some points, but aside from that like she doesn't do the things that Eve does. I think is the point of the story? And like the critique is essentially just, you know, what, what good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul? I mean, that's that's the point of this movie. It's a very simple morality story in my mind and it's no different than, you know, the kind of basic plot and basic moral. You get in a movie like Double Indemnity which is like. If you let yourself get seduced and wander off, the path that you're supposed to be on bad, things will happen to you, like I don't think it needs to have more of like a huge Chiral critique than that.

23:29 I will say the end of the film while the the whole Phoebe subplot at the very end was kind of like yeah. Okay so there's another person that's going to do to you. Cool cool cool. It did have hands down the best cinematography like moment of the film, like, Eve walks into the apartment and you know, that there's going to be somebody in the apartment like that's really obvious. But the way that they reveal somebody being the in the apartment with the slow move of the camera towards the Mirror. And this girl is just like sleeping or probably fake sleeping because she's evil evil evil. She but she's like sleeping in that chair that bro, that was a great shot. Yeah.

24:10 And there's some really great camera stuff going on in this movie, just in general. Like I was really Blown Away. By the way, they lift people's eyes throughout the movie, eyes are always visible in this movie and they, especially, you know, the very famous thing about Betty Davis was her eyes and they really accentuate them in this movie. But I was Even kind of you know marveling at at the very beginning, you get this freeze frame of Eve going to accept her award and everything just pauses and I'm like oh it's Scorsese before Scorsese was doing it. You know what I mean? There's a really long Freeze Frame and they're just narrating over it for a long period of time. And I was like, oh yeah. It's the, you know, it's the female New York theater version of Goodfellas.

24:51 I feel like the cool part of that scene was the fact that Eve stopped and then whenever the camera was somewhere else for the Everybody else was still Applause right? Yeah, that was the cool part for me. Yeah, totally agree. Well, I'm glad Brad that you're finding at least some things here to laud even while you're eventually going to crap on this movie and I know it's coming but before we get to that any other kind of like supporting characters you want to call out. I know you talked about Celeste Holm as Margo's best friend. I want to talk for a minute about George Sanders, as Addison DeWitt. The conniving cynical knows more. Than everybody columnist that can make or break a career.

25:31 I really loved his performance here, Brad. And and I think that that last scene that he has with Eve where he basically puts his foot down and says, you think that you can play me for a Rube the way you've been playing. Everybody else I happen to have even more information than you are and I have less morals than everybody else that you've been backstabbing. It's not going to happen to me. I think he plays that kind of manipulation. Ation really really great. Even while you can see on his face that he's kind of shocked and appalled at what Eve has been doing? Once he finds out that she's been lying about everything, If I should want you at all suddenly strikes me as the height of improbability.

26:14 And that in itself is probably the reason. You're an improbable person. Even sir my we have that in common. Also a contempt for Humanity and inability to love and be loved insatiable ambition and challenge. We deserve each other. See in the end. That's what confused me about that part of the script. Like he talks about being this evil soulless person who is going to. I mean the script is self. I get that, it's a 50s and things were problematic back then, but the fact that he is blackmailing her into having sex and a relationship with him. I don't know, I'm just going to point out that that's not great or good or anything and there's no critique on that.

27:00 So that's not great. But like why does he, why does he feel like oh how could you do this? You are an evil person and I feel terrible. So terrible about it that I'm going to make you be in a relationship with me. I I just don't buy a man. Yeah, I get it. I get it. That's a weird part of the script. Although I'll agree with you, I think that George Sanders plays the extremely strange script. He's given exceedingly. Well I do find it really funny that you're keying in on like the rapey elements of that because I think that there's so much more power dynamics at play there. And I think it's heavily implied that Addison is gay.

27:43 So like I don't, I don't know. Wait what I mean you don't find him soon as not gay. I mean, he has Marilyn Monroe in his arm but like we don't Ever actually see him engage in any sort of romantic activity with these women, despite what he says in public. Like, I think it really is just like a great. Like, it's creepy because he like wants to groom women but like in a way that gives him more power on the New York theater scene, like he wants to craft a career from the ground up with him as The Mastermind behind it. And I think so. I think like for him, it's not as much about sex as it is just about like the absolute power of being able to To conform somebody to whatever image he wants to make them into.

28:27 Yeah, I mean, I 100% agree with all that, but I don't think that that makes him gay. I'm not saying it. Nothing. Okay. I just, I thought it's to me. I think it was heavily implied that he was gay but that might, that might just be me, huh? Yeah no, I know that. That is the hot take of the day I think. All right cool. That totally threw me for a loop. Interesting and Brad you were kind of Talking about that ending, you know? And I'm even thinking of what his very last appearance in the movie is where he comes up to Yves apartment to drop off the award that she doesn't even care about anymore. It has left in the cab. Yeah. And he sees this girl, Phoebe open the door and he immediately knows what's up.

29:08 And I just you get this very kind of devilish little smirk where he's like mmmm Phoebe, huh? And you know that that he understands that the cycle is starting up again and I just I think that having this I keep using the word cynical but having this really kind of Bleak cynical guide through the world of All About Eve in. Addison really helps Hammer the power of that ending home and you were talking about how when Eve comes in the apartment and you kind of like wondering why they're following her around the apartment before it's revealed. There's somebody in there. I was thinking to myself while watching it you know if this was a film Noir and we've seen everything that's happened up to this point. There would be Be somebody in Eve's apartment waiting to just shoot her.

29:55 And that's the end of the movie, is like her dying in a pool of her own blood. And I think that what I really love about this movie is that the way that they go with it is somehow even darker than if somebody had just shot him to death. Like she is going to suffer the same fate that she inflicted on everybody else. And it is, it is so much more powerful and chilling to me to watch that ending then if somebody had just come and, you know, stabbed her out of GE. See and this is where once again I feel like the script is just just over playing its hand so hard like to me it is 100% 200%, unbelievable that Eve wouldn't have just thrown that girl out and been like you think, I don't know what you're trying to do, like they try to play Eve off as This. Brilliant Mastermind, who's played innocent? All these years to gain the spotlight, but all of a sudden she doesn't see when somebody else is Trying to do the same thing like like, come on.

30:55 Come on, bro. But Brad I will say this and again, I respect your opinion, I can see where your arguments coming from, but the Writers Guild of America did a list of their top, 100 screenplays of all time. All About Eve, screenplay by Joseph l mankiewicz number 5 screen play ever written. So I just want you to acknowledge that. As we move on, here it is. It is an uphill battle for you to prove your point here. I don't have any respect for the screenwriting Guild of America. It doesn't bother me at all, that they would put it ever since that time, they rejected your script. You've just had he had a vendetta against all right. Brad I think we're in a good place to hit pause.

31:36 Why don't we try this old azeris Evan? Let's get to it. Alright so today we are checking out old Ezra seven-year Barrel strength.

32:27 Now this is a whiskey that comes to us from the Luxe. Go Corporation, we've talked about Luxe go on this podcast many times before they have a Distillery now in Bardstown, Kentucky called Lux row distilling. They are the company that is not called. Lux Co this to know it's called Luxor. Oh there you go neat. They are the, they are The Distillery that owns the Brand's Rebel Yell. They own Yellowstone. David Nicholson. Reserve rabble. Oh yeah it's not Rebel Yell anymore, Rebel Rebel Bourbon and azra. Brooks. Now we have had 90 Proof just the regular black label, Ezra Brooks during our Springtime of swill, a surprisingly good, really cheap bourbon.

33:08 I am also a big fan of a lot of Lux co-products. I really like rebel, I like Rebel 100 recently. They just started releasing an Ezra Brooks. That is 99 proof, which is really, really good for $25. This was intended to kind of inject more life into the Ezra Brooks name. They started doing this back and I think either late 2017 or early 2018, they came out with this old Ezra 7 Barrel strength because the next step up from Ezra, Brooks was Ezra Brooks 7-year, which is a 101 proof Bourbon. And they basically just said like, Hey we're going to do this and we're going to get a barrel proof and we're going to sell it for whatever it was $30 or whatever and people really liked it.

33:50 I mean, it went over really well. It was a super affordable. Portable Barrel strength bourbon. They have continued to produce it since then because it was such a boon for this brand and of course as things do the price has gone up exponentially because bourbon drinkers can't get enough of bourbon right now. So Brad, we are reviewing this in 2021 a full. What? 3ish? Three and a half years. Since this particular expression launched will get into the price and how much it's gone up. But for our purposes. Brad. I know we have this poured out in front of us. What are you picking up on? On the nose of this old Ezra 7 Barrel strength Bob. This is a beautifully classic bourbon experience. Like I feel like I'm getting some vanilla butterscotch hints of caramel.

34:35 There's a little bit of brown sugar and at the very back end once you I feel like once I spent some time with it and got passed, some of the heat, you got some of those okey notes that you're kind of expecting an even. I don't know a little bit of spiciness there. I think it's a really solid knows that I'm going to give it Seven and a half out of ten. Yeah. Brad. You made a really good note, which was once you get past the Heat and honestly, I don't know that I'm able to get past the heat on this one. Honestly, like the thing that's overwhelming me here is the ethanol and it's just really alcohol forward. I have been letting this sit and are out for, I don't know, 20 minutes now. Then I've been consistently nosing it as we've been talking about All About Eve and it's not going away. I've, you know, I've puffed into the glass A little bit. It just really seems like a very Free alcohol forward whiskey. It's got some kind of nice.

35:25 There's almost a lightness to it. There's a bit of floral on it as well. The mash bill on this is 78% corn. 12%, malted barley 10% rye and I do think that, like, some of that malted. Barley character is really coming out here on the nose. I like it. I just wish that the dominant note wasn't ethanol, so I'm only going to give this a 6 out of 10 on the nose. You try blown that at the mall on out of there. Hmm. Man. Yeah I'm really enjoying this knows. It's not like so you know, blow me out of the water but it's really solid. And honestly, as I get into the actual palette and the taste of this, it is a it's a little bit thinner than I would hope for, you know, 117 proof whiskey, whoo, but it has a nice burst of flavor. Wow.

36:14 I think you get a little bit of fruitiness there, but in the end it's largely sweet. There's a lot of caramel pushing through What, you know, the amount of heat that kind of hits. You good Lord. Brad. Are you drinking this out of a Glencairn glass? I sure am. But I am too. And like, I feel like my tongue just got singed, like, from the moment, it touched the tip of my tongue, it burned it. Burned my whole tongue going back, it burned going down and it is leaving my tongue feeling like nearly blistered. Like this is just the hottest. Most alcohol forward. Not it's not like I don't wanna say it's a harsh taste because it's not bitter or anything like that. It's just like alcohol, alcohol, alcohol. And any note that I'm getting underneath that is like at least 50% less, you know, strong than the alcohol is like, I don't know.

37:10 I don't know what's going on with my half of this sample that you're not picking up on Brad. But this thing is like, like drinking fire. Did you sign the waiver that came with it beforehand? Was I not supposed to dump the Habaneros into this? Oh yeah, I think that might darn it the problem. Darn it. No dude. I am getting honestly, one of the most Pleasant ethanol heat experiences I've ever had. I think that that little bit of Rye that 10% Rye almost like partners with the heat where I can't tell if it's like heat from ethanol or just a little bit of spice. Enos that like underlies all of the other flavors that I'm getting. So the second sip is way way better. I think it's just because it singed everything on the way down the first time, but I'm definitely able to pick up more notes on the taste.

38:04 The Second Step around it, doesn't it definitely comes across a little bit smoother. I just don't know how I can score this. Knowing that like you have to push through the first sip before you can even start appreciating it on the second sip. I'm only going to give this a five and a half on the taste bread. See, Bob, I don't remember which Barrel strength whiskey we drank first on this podcast, but I remember having a similar experience where I was just like, holy cow. I just got destroyed by that initial, you know tasting. Yeah and it really ruined the rest of the experience for me. I haven't had that experience many times since but the yeah this definitely for me was one of my favorite Barrel strength performance.

38:47 This is as just just considering the heat, you know, and obviously other than that I really like the flavors going on here. I'm going to give it an 8 out of 10 on the taste and really, as I get into the Finish, it's really this gorgeous finish. That's full of Oak. It's got a nice bit of warmth that literally just like I can almost feel it slowly ratcheting down the longer, it sits on, you know, on my throat and as it as it moves towards finishing towards the ending. And and honestly, I My favorite part of the finishes that there's just a little bit of spiciness that kind of like lingers Beyond any other flavor. That's just this Pleasant. Little tingle, as you finish this one, I'm going to stick it. An 8 out of 10.

39:29 It's not a perfect finish but I'll be darn, man. It's pretty good. Well, your objectively wrong Brad and I don't know how else. I think, I think the tables have been turned here because I was going to say, bro, you, you are loving this movie. Nate in this whiskey, I am hate and smooth. She and really loving this whiskey. Yeah, the finish. I will say, the Finish is a little bit nicer than everything else. Like it's, I don't think that it's a really aggressive, like, Kentucky hug on the way down, you know? It's there but like, honestly, the Finish was not nearly as harsh as the, The Taste, the first tasting was I actually got some really nice, dark chocolate, and kind of bitters notes at the very very end of The Taste in to the Finish. I thought that was pretty Pleasant. I'm actually going to give this a seven out of ten on the finish and that's it.

40:17 Into overall balance. This is where we talk about. How knows taste and finish all put together kind of form, a cohesive experience, or don't Brad. How do you think this one did in terms of balance? I think it's a well-balanced whiskey. And I think that there's like just enough complexity going on to keep me interested. It's not a massively complex whiskey. You have a few main notes that stick with you all the way through but the fact that they stick with you all the way through is what makes me give it a seven and a half out of ten on. Ants. Yeah, I just I disagree like just wholeheartedly and I have not much more to say about this. I'm going to give this a 5 on the balance. Brad, this is a 117 proof whiskey, so it's definitely Barrel strength but we've had much higher proof Whiskey's on this podcast before. You know.

41:05 I think of that Jack Daniels single barrel. We had that I think was 130 proof. We've done wiser Craig. Barrel proofs on this podcast before, in terms of the, the pallet the front of the Especially in the mid palate. This thing just really burned the front of my tongue. It's not the harshest whiskey I've ever had and I'm finding it. Hard to kind of distinguish between that it's not super harsh in terms of the flavor of it. And the Finish is actually quite nice but like what leads into it? Really kind of shocked me with, with how much it burned and how hot it drinks. So it's just not up my alley, man. Well, and that, and Bob, I think we're going to be pretty far off on our value score, as well, you know, this is $60. 5999 in the state of Ohio. Really?

41:50 Yeah. And I will say I'm going to give it a six out of ten on value. I think $60 is about 10 now probably 15 to 20 dollars too high for this. Yeah, it's not the worst value. It's a good-looking bottle that I think it's worth having on your shelf. However, $60 in the world of bourbon is really getting up there. So, this is a solid product that I would, I I genuinely would recommend. But yeah, 60 hours is a little high. Yeah. So when we started this podcast, Brad in 2019. I know for a fact that this sold in the state of Ohio for 3499 and they raised it in 2022.

42:33 I think 4999 and I was like how dare they raised this by $15 and I was unaware of the fact that they raised it again for 20 21, and it is now almost double what it was just two years ago, that is insane. And I don't Not know like when stuff like this happens, I don't know who to get angrier at. Is it the distiller for driving up price? And it may just be that they don't have a lot of product left and they're not they can't meet demand so you have to raise the price? Or is it just places like the state of Ohio setting prices at an astronomical level? I don't know, but Dad is way too high for this. If this was $35 despite the fact that I don't like it I actually think I'd give it like a 77 and a half on the value because it's Barrel. Barrel strength at a price that no one else is selling at at $60, you're talking, it's higher than wild turkey Rare Breed, it's higher than old Forester 1920. There's just no way.

43:31 I would ever pay $60 for this bread. I'm going to give it a 3 out of 10 on value and that is putting my final score out to a 26 and a half out of 50 man. I will say as you were talking about like you know, who to blame for this, I Ink in the end. The only real answer is to blame be tack at like I don't know how, but this is clearly color back to be sack, somehow it all comes back feet and attack is the Pulp Fiction gimp of of whiskeys. But honestly, we are coming out with probably one of our biggest differences in a really long time on a whiskey. I am at a 37 out of 50.

44:18 Wow, on old. 37. Yeah, dude man. Okay, so that's putting us out to a sixty three and a half out of 100 or a 31-point 75 out of 50. Which I'm sure. Brad thinks is way too low and I think is like astronomically High compared to what I just drank. I have to say, Brad coming into this episode. I thought that we were both going to enjoy this whiskey and really like this movie and that is absolutely not the case. This is the most surprising episode of the season. Or me so far all around. Yeah, I mean I have to keep you on your toes. Bob what a you know what's the whole point of me being on this podcast? So okay in terms of recommendations do you recommend buying it?

45:01 Do you recommend trying it or both? I would recommend if you have a friend who's really into whiskey, I'd say split it. I would say that this is worth spending 34 like a half bottle, definitely try it. If you're out, this definitely falls into the range of like yeah. Little too expensive for my shelf. But I want to try the actual whiskey. But yeah, I would say I recommend. Yeah, like half-heartedly. I actually would recommend trying it just because again, I know I'm in the minority and not liking it, but I don't think it is like unpalatable. You know what I mean? This is probably up somebody's Ali and I think it's worth. If you're at a bar and they're charging less than $10 for a poor of this. It's worth trying just to see if you like it. I would absolutely not recommend buying a bottle of this at $60 and I think that's kind kind of, you know, my final word on this one Pratt.

45:52 Well, I am really excited to get to my final word on this garbage movie. Well, let's get back into talking about the number, 28 film of all time. All About Eve, let's get to it. Alright, so that was old, Ezra seven-year Barrel strength, whiskey that we are as divided on as we are this movie. So I mean, it's almost time for us to give final scores on this movie.

46:57 I am really curious to hear how low of an opinion Brad actually has of this movie. It sounds like there are how low can it get? Yeah, it sounds like they are elements of the movie that you really respect that. You think it was in some ways. Well-crafted just not your cup of tea is that accurate? I I think you're overstating it a little bit like there are there are very few minut parts of the movie where I was like oh that was well done. Hmm. However I don't know if that would lead me to say that I have respect for this movie. Wow. Yeah. So again I'm not trying to overstate or like put words in your mouth I guess I just thought that I thought I was understanding where you're coming from in terms of like how I feel about 2001 which is Yeah. I mean I can see that this is a very singular work of a master director.

47:52 I just it does not work for me and it's not my cup of tea, but he and and that's where I like having watched 2001 for the podcast, I would agree with you. 100% there. I didn't totally get it, but I can recognize that, that's a great movie barring, some really weird stuff going on and it's long and drawn out. And, and yeah, so I'm right there with you. You like sure. Okay, that's a great movie. I'm not at that place with this film. Yeah, I think I'm hearing that loud and clear now. Yep, just to make it clear. Bob, this sucks. No I I don't know, man. I think the reason I don't have a ton of respect for this film, is because I feel like there are a lot of other movies, like it that, do it better. Like when you just look at dramas featuring talking people talking about their lives like There's a lot of other movies, I can think of that I would prefer to this. It doesn't feel unique enough.

48:52 The way 2001 feels unique, does that make sense? Totally makes sense as so. I mean, I know that there's no convincing you and I really do, trust your opinion on this movie. I think we both acknowledge, you're in the minority, but like you, like what you like, you don't like what you don't like. I mean, that's just, that's exactly how we do this podcast. I will say, Brad before we move into our final scores. I do have a little amusing. We amusing anecdote to share about this movie one final thing when it came time for this movie to be awarded what ended up happening was the studio wanted to really push Betty Davis for Best Actress. This was kind of her comeback movie and she had all the momentum behind her and they wanted to push and Baxter as supporting actress and they thought that they had a really good shot at winning both of those Awards and eventually Anne Baxter basically said, absolutely not and put her foot down and said I am the title character of this movie and I feel that I gave a leading actress performance in this movie, it is possible for a movie to have co-leads. I mean, we just kind of saw that just a couple weeks ago, in Silence of the Lambs, you know, the lines between supporting and leading actor or actress can be blurred sometimes. And so Anne Baxter is like, no, I want to compete for best actress.

50:09 I think I have a shot here and so the studio pushed her for best actress and they both ended up getting nominated. It for best actress and, you know, Legend has it that because of that they split the vote, neither of them wins best actress in 1950. And so, in some ways you have Anne Baxter, kind of living into like the character of Eve and trying to, you know, undermine and ruin what was considered to be an almost a shoo-in award for Betty Davis that year. See, now that's a movie. Yeah. Like that's a movie right there. That could be. Rigging. Yeah. But how crazy is it that life you know imitates art that way?

50:50 Yeah, no it's it's wild man. Sure. Yeah. All right, Brad Brad's clearly done talking about this movie. Just just just do it Brad. What's your final score? I'll give it a six and a half out of ten. Oh well, okay, like it's it's fine. Like the acting performances are okay. You know I like Betty Davis. I don't like anybody else very much. I don't think. I think the script is very good. Some of the cinematography is well done and intriguing, but overall it seems kind of just cut and paste type of cinematography, you know, which is fine. Like they're just watching people live their lives. So, you know, it's okay, it's fine.

51:33 Six and a half moving on. I did not expect you to even give it that high of a score. So, I'll work with that man because, you know, this was a movie that again, I love this movie. I think it is. Definitely one of the top 100 films of all time. I don't think I'd put it at 28 and watching it through this time. You know, I even texted you Brad because I watched it through before you did and I said, you know, I really do think it picks up a lot in the second half of the movie, but that first half is really drawn out. And I think that even at 2 hours and 18 minutes, they probably could have cut between 15 and 20 minutes out of this movie. I think scenes go on too long sometimes, and even though this script is great, I think from a structural standpoint and there's some fantastic dialogue. It does I feel a little bit baggy at some points, so, I'm coming out.

52:20 It's not a perfect movie but it is an important movie. It's a great movie, it's one of the all-time classics. I'm going to give this movie a 9 and a half out of ten and that and that is. Why why do you laugh at my score? I sit here and I listen to you, give something a six and a half and I'm like, oh, I respected my good man. And I'm like, I'm going to share the opinion that everyone else on Earth who has tasted movies thinks of this and you're like, Bahahaha. I don't understand you man. Nine and a half by that is a knight and a half out of ten. Such a high score. Did you just take the L on this one? You're the only one who thinks this brat.

53:01 I'm just, I'm just being everyone else loves this movie. My honestly, I was expecting you after that description, to give it like an 8 and a half, or a 9 and other than like yeah, yeah, sure. Eight and a half nine, I get it. Do you think that it of all it with the number of movies? I've seen if I say something is in the top hundred ever, you really think? I'm gonna be like, yeah, eight one week ago. You gave Schindler's List, a nine and a half? Yes, this because it's not a perfect movie. This movie is not like I said, eight and a half to nine like, okay sure. I could maybe respect that, that's fine. But like, I don't know, man, I don't, half is really high.

53:41 What a 9.25. Make you settle down a little bit. No, I would I would laugh. I'm just as and I'm plowing ahead with my 9 and a half that is taking that's taking our average score to an 8 out of 10, which is really right in line. Where with IMDb has this movie, an eight point, two out of 10, this is a very high-ranking movie. It's number 137 on the IMDB's top 250 Brad. So once again, all of the world as opposed to you on this and your objectively wrong. Filming whiskey Nation. You are welcome for getting Bob to flip out. I got it. I did it just don't laugh at me. That's the thing. It's like you know you can disagree just just don't laugh at me. This is serious business.

54:27 My friend. We want to know what you have to say about this serious business. So give us your thoughts, send us some stuff. Hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you can find us At film whiskey, or you can give us a call, please call in and just just berate Brad. Just I mean, ad hominem attacks, just make fun of his height, whatever, whatever it takes to make him cry a little, you can you can leave us a voicemail on our anchor dot f m-- website which is anchored on FM / film whiskey. Next week. We will be back with a movie that I hope to God, Brad doesn't dislike, because it is one of my favorite films of all time. I'm gonna put myself out there, bro. At one of my favorite films of all time and a movie that I think might actually be perfect it's Bill easily. Just want to give it a 10 out of 10 now. Yeah it's a 10-cent.

55:20 All right well it's a 4 out of 10 Billy Wilder's best movie ever 1960s the apartment. So we'll be back with that next week but until then I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.