High Noon / New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

0:00 In 1952 director, Fred zinnemann and star Gary Cooper gave the world, an unhurried Western that puts good alone on the stand against the apathy of an entire town. In 2021, we take a short trip across the Ohio, River to discover one of Kentucky's, best new distilleries. The movie is High Noon. The whiskey is new riff Bourbon and we'll review them both. This is the film and whiskey 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 a true classic.

0:57 The 1952 Western High Noon. Brad. I've actually been really excited for this one to come up on the list this year. I know, I just I get a craving to watch this movie every now and then, and I knew it was coming up. So I kind of held off on watching it. It's just such an enjoyable movie and it's like an hour and 25 minutes. Long one thing that I've realized lately, Brad and we've watched a ton of long movies. I love a good short movie, yeah. Dude, one of the most beautiful things that makes this movie, so stinkin rewatchable. Is the fact that it's an hour and 24 minutes and that's it, you're in. You're out. Like it is just so it's the cinematography is so tight. In this movie, The pacing is so well done, like it's amazing to me that this is such a slow-paced movie and I mean that in a good way and and it works because it's only an hour and a half and you're it's just so simple to jump in know what's going on and kind of know what you're getting into. And you don't have to invest a ton of energy into like a three-hour Western Brad, you know, that I live to nitpick the things that you say like this.

2:09 That's, you know, kind of the premise of this whole podcast. It's just me tearing you down to the studs so that you can rebuild bigger and better than ever. But I'm pretty sure that you get more frustrated much more regularly than I was an attractive. I've tried to paint a narrative here man. Okay, sorry, I have to ask you though because I this is an accusation that At you kind of level at movies, all the time and sometimes you say that it's good. And sometimes that you say that it's bad and you use this term slowly paced. I don't know that I would in anyway, call this movie slowly paced. I think it's kind of hard to pay some movie slowly. That's only 85 minutes long in the first place. But I think what you might be getting at here is that this movie is done in what's called real-time?

2:52 Like the start of this movie is at 10:30 in the morning and then to the movie is it like, you know, 12:05 p.m. so. Don't know, Bob it's at High Noon. Well I mean then you see the aftermath of that and then maybe five minutes afternoon. So essentially this movie takes place in what we would call real time. Is that way you're getting at here? Or do you actually think this is a slow movie? Well, I mean, just think about the cinematography Bob, like, anytime. You see Gary Cooper walking down the street, is there ever just like really quick Cuts between a bunch of different things happening. Yeah, but see that's not, that's not cinematography, that's editing. So are you saying that? It's okay, it's edited. Slowly, or like I'm just gonna lick used not even just the editing though.

3:35 Like even when we sit with characters in this movie, the camera isn't in any hurry, like think about the famous shot where, you know, he walks out and it's right before noon and the camera slowly pulls back up to show the entire town and he's alone. Like that shot takes, I don't know a solid like 15 to 20 seconds. The camera moves slowly, it's casual, it's not Hurry. And like so when I say slowly paced and I talked about cinematography, that's what I'm talking God. Okay? There's so many parts of this movie where it's just slowly casually following him down the street as he walks from one place to the next nesting.

4:16 So for me, it's a slowly paced movie even though it's only an hour and 24 minutes and I see what I would say is that that is suspense building though. You know what I mean like and if that's the case, then I think you would have to say that. Like some of Hitchcock's movies are slow-paced. If If if that's what we're getting at because I think they really draw out the tension so that by the time you get to noon when, you know, the action of this movie happens there intercutting between, you know, five six, seven different characters looking at the clock and it really draws out that suspense. I don't know. Did you find this movie to be suspenseful, or did you find it to be more? Kind of deliberately paste? I think both things are true. Nice. All right. Oh yes, Megan Shaw.

4:57 Same page here. You know, before I got I kick you off this time. Gasps for good. I think that you're just way off my page, Bob the page where I'm right. And I have a better taste and understanding of movies the nude. I think, I think all of America would agree with that. And so, because of that, let's move into America's favorite segment. Brad. This is the segment. We call Brad explains where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen often for the first time Brad. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this was not your first time seeing high noon. I know you grew up watching, westerns am I right in my assumption. Yes, I've seen High Noon, it has been a very long time. I would say probably 15 to 20 years since I've seen it, so it felt like coming pretty fresh into it, but yeah, I've seen it before.

5:41 Nice. Alright, so, I don't think this is going to take very long but as you know Brad we have implemented a 60 second time. Limit on. Brad explains for this season. Can you break down the plot of this movie in one minute or less? I think I can. There's a bad guy coming back to town and Gary Cooper. Tries to get people to help him and they all pretty much spit in his face and then he kills them all by himself with his wife, who's a Quaker at the end but boom, 15 s ba. My favorite thing about Brad explains is that if you go to like an IMDb page for a movie and it gives you like a one-sentence synopsis somehow, Brad explains manages to explain even less of a movie than that basic, like even mention that he's the Marshal of the town.

6:29 He's You know to hear Brad. Tell it Gary Cooper is just a guy in the town. Who wants to kill bad, guys. See, here's the thing, Bob, he's not the Marshal. He turned the badge in at the very start. Yeah, so true. So true, who actually paid attention in this movie, huh? Oh my gosh. All right, so the movie starts out and I'm Marshall, will Kane is getting married to a woman who is significantly younger than him. And the plan is that he is going to turn over his badge. He's going to go off with his new love. They're going to open. Store together because she's a Quaker, she doesn't like violence and it's going to be a full day until the new Marshal can come into town but lo and behold, Frank Miller a guy that Marshal Cain sent Upstate to hang and ended up getting sent to prison. Instead is out of prison and he's coming with his posse looking for vengeance.

7:19 And so, you know, Gary Cooper like you said, tries to round up people all over town to help him take these guys down and it's the story of A Lone Hero doing what he knows is, right. Even Though no one will stand with him. This is kind of like the quintessential American story. Brad. I mean, like I think about westerns and when I think about the kind of typical American Western, I think this might be my favorite of the American westerns. I will say I'm right there with you. This is probably up there is my favorite Western. I'm trying to think of other ones that would replace this. I will say though, you talked about suspense a little bit earlier.

8:00 I think that the suspense could have been heightened a little bit if they use the name other than Frank Miller like oh man good old. Frankie Mill is coming back to town. I'm real scared like that one episode of Family Guy where Peters trying to get into like a locked door. And the computer asks him what is the most unattractive name in the mail in the English language and just yes, Keith. Yep. Yeah, Frank doesn't have a sort of menace to it. Does it honestly like one of his posse members? Who is played by Lee Van Cleef? Yeah. I'm like, heck you could have just called him. Lee Van Cleef. And that's a scary name, like Frank Miller just wasn't doing it for now.

8:40 Brad, but I love that. We're at the point in our podcast, where we get to reference other episodes that we've made because it just tells me that we have that big of a backlog of episodes now. But you know, we just did The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, I don't know, a few months ago, and we talked about Lee Van Cleef. It's so cool to see him here in what was his film debut, I don't think. He has maybe but one line of dialogue in this movie and the funny thing is I recognize him so much from those Sergio Leone movies that when I saw Frank Miller, at the end of the movie and they really build him up. He like he gets off the train and you don't see his face and you're thinking like, oh, is this going to be kind of a Matt Damon in interstellar thing where it's a surprise movie star? And no.

9:22 It's just a guy that had really bad acne. When he was a teenager and looks kind of doughy and Lee Van Cleef looks so much. Much more Sinister than the actual bad guy of this movie. I it was such a letdown when I saw Frank Miller. Yeah. Like yeah, I was kind of the same place. I'm like, man, I'm just waiting for like John Wayne to jump off there, like Jimmy Stewart, for some reason. Like like that. Can't you imagine Jimmy Stewart coming down and going? I'm gonna shoot. Okay, now it's time for you to die Kane, right? Yeah. That would have made this movie 10 times. Better a million times better. I will say, though, That one of the things I love about this movie is that there is not a moment of fat on this thing.

10:05 It, you know, again it really constrains itself to that hour and a half long running time to the point that even the opening titles have action going on behind them. You know it's not like your typical old movie where they just have kind of title cards on a blank background know. It's like Frank Miller's Posse is getting themselves together and riding over to the train depot and it's not super important action that's happening in the background. But I think It really does. Kind of tip you off that. There's not really a moment to waste in this movie. Well, I think that with an opening like that, what you're do, what the director is doing, you know, zinnemann he's giving you Exposition without saying a word, right? Like you have to do the credits, you know?

10:47 And so you put the credits in, but he's giving you the exposition is just, the simple fact. These are bad people who the town is afraid of. Yeah, and something is going to happen. Something big is going to happen. A pin that they are in town and you get all of that from that opening 23 minute sequence. And like you said, Bob nothing's really happening. They're just trotting their way on through town. But I think that little moments like that are beautiful, because they go back to something. We talked about on this podcast a lot show, don't tell. And I think zinnemann does a masterful job of that at the start of this film, Brad. I think it's time we start talking about the performances in this movie, though. You know, Gary Cooper wins an Oscar for this movie for best actor. Or this is the first Gary Cooper movie, we've done, which I'm really surprised at it.

11:34 I don't think we've done one to this point and we're talking about one of the most famous actors in Hollywood history. And we'll get to the other people in the cast because you know, we've done a Grace Kelly movie before we've done five or six, Thomas Mitchell movies before. But before we get to them, I do want to talk about Gary Cooper. So famously this movie was kind of a career rebound for him. He had been one of the most famous Leading Men in Hollywood. He filmed this after just coming off a Surgery for a bleeding ulcer that he had. And so, you know, the Hollywood Legend the Mythos behind this movie is that Gary. Cooper had this pained expression on his face through the movie, because he was recovering from surgery and it really aided his performance so much.

12:16 And I'll say this, Brad, I think that as the film went on, and you got a real sense of his nervousness. And you got a real sense of his, his true anger towards these people who are continually betraying him, it's a really good. Formance. But at about the 15-minute Mark, when he was still supposed to be, you know, for the most part kind of still a happy newlywed and he's pretending to be happy with Grace Kelly and let's go off and start a store. I'm like, did this guy really deserve to win an Oscar? Because this part is not convincing me at all Gary, Cooper's, 50 years old when they make this movie Grace, Kelly's, 21, and that age difference is very apparent. I think that has something to do with it, but when it comes to the performance itself, Add, where are you falling on? It, was it great, was it?

13:02 You know, just in the middle? Was it bad? I think that what really pulls the performance together is when he's finally by himself, he knows that everybody's abandoned him and he puts his head down on his office desk and just cries as he's like, writing out the last will and testament like I like, I think it's that moment where he kind of breaks a little bit. That makes it a good performance but if you notice, I don't use the word great. Since because in the end I think that weirdly like Gary Cooper was the right choice for this role. I think he does a really fine job with it, but there's not, I don't think he's given very much to work with, in this script.

13:43 You know what I mean? Yeah, I agree with that. And I've seen so many movies with him in it. That I just know that this is not one of his best performances. He did a movie with Frank Capra called Meet John Doe which I think is fantastic. You know, he won another Oscar for Sergeant York. He played Lou Gehrig and Pride of the Yankees. He's had some really great performances. And this one just seems like a very OneNote stoic performance and it has glimpses of Brilliance in it, but like, you know, I look at the Oscar win and I'm just kind of like man, I don't, I don't know if I see it. I mean, did you watch all the other best actor performances that were nominated that? Yeah, that's no, I did not. That's, that's a good. You never know man. Maybe this really was just the best of the best. You know, the funny thing about that is this was an exceptionally weak.

14:29 Year for the Oscars 1952 like it had its biggest competition seemed to be the John Ford movie The Quiet Man, which we both love as well. And those movies, both lost to assess will be DeMille, movie called The Greatest Show on Earth, which was about circus performers and no one remembers it. Nobody could believe that it won at the time, but the director Cecil B Demille won some sort of Lifetime Achievement Award. And so they just kind of gave him best picture to go with it and looking back on it now. It's just like, How did High Noon not win? Best picture over a circus movie. I mean, if anything Bob, it just gives us another reason to hate the greatest showman even more. Or it gives people more ammo to say the greatest showman should have won best picture.

15:14 I don't think that that's a true statement. Robertson and if we can give it to green book we can give it to the greatest showman dude I'm an I still like scream book but how the heck did that way best picture? So so good. Yeah. Gary Cooper, though. Well, I was going to say, we need to get to The Quiet Man on this podcast because I freaking that he loves really good movie. Yeah. Oh it's so good job at like John Wayne and a very abnormal role for him. It's such a good film. But with Gary Cooper in this movie I like he's fine, he's good, he's solid. I think that what really makes him great is the way that all of the other characters in the town kind of bounce off of his Stoic. Like I'm just gonna do good and I would like for you all to do it with me.

16:06 The way that people bounce off of his kind of like Stony unemotional demeanor it informs the entire movie. It tells the story of the film. So while I don't think it was necessarily his best performance, it was the performance that the movie needed for sure. And I love, you know, especially as the movie goes on and the kind of the betrayals become more and more personal to him. That he never really says a word calling, any of these people out, and it gets to the point where, you know, everyone has abandoned him. He goes back to his office and there's a guy waiting there that had agreed to go with him and he's like, oh, I forgot you were here. And then once that guy realizes, it's just the two of them. He backs out to and they cut to this really great close up of Gary Cooper. Just listening to this man's excuses of well, you know, it's not really my fight anyway and I have a wife and kids and, and he just, he's just looking at him with this, just this Seething anger and he just says something like oh, is that so or something like that.

17:04 And I love the way that he just stares at people and he lets their words work against them. And I think that's a really great, you know, sign of a good script as well. They don't have him going on these long impassioned speeches, he lets the people be cowards and that's exactly what they are. He doesn't have to call anyone a coward because they all know that they're doing something cowardly as well. And you watch them kind of Shrink back and and you can see the self-loathing and all of their eyes. But Gary Cooper, never has to call them out on it. He just, you know, he lets it be unsaid. Yeah, I mean, he lets their words and their actions condemn themselves that like, at the end of the film, when, you know, we already talked about it, but when the camera pulls back and you see an empty town, it's a condemnation of everything that they have done throughout the entire body. And I think that is what makes this movie. Oh beautiful.

18:00 So Gary Cooper has a very storied history in Hollywood and it is incredibly sordid and scandalous and I did a bunch of research today and then felt like, I needed to delete my browser history because it was extra spicy. Gary Cooper comes into Hollywood at the end of the silent film era. He catches the eye of a Starlet in Hollywood named Clara Bow, who they starred in a movie together called it, which was not. Coincidentally, about a killer, Down. But that that is where the term it girl comes from because she was the it girl and it launches his career but also he is passed around Hollywood like a rag doll.

18:41 Just everyone like this man from all accounts women men, he was he was doing it all and he was doing it to advance his career and even after he became famous he was Notorious in Hollywood for sleeping with literally every person that he Started with in movies from you know, Ingrid Bergman to Patricia Neal and the rumor is that even during this film he and Grace Kelly had an affair. Now that is never been substantiated, it's just a rumor and I think it's a rumor because people just assumed it about him at this point, but I'll say this, Brad as we move into Grace Kelly. If Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly had an affair during the production of this movie. It's really interesting to me because they have zero chemistry.

19:29 On screen. Yeah, the the I did not understand the casting of Grace Kelly in this role because and it comes down to what you just said, Bob they just don't fit together at all. Like she comes across as like a female version of him and she is like stoic and cold and seemingly unfeeling. When she's having her conversation with mrs. Ramirez. There's just nothing in me. Goes. Yeah, they got married for a reason, like, like the woman who plays mrs. Ramirez has a million times more emotional depth and quality of acting and Charisma and and Charisma. Then anything that Kris Kelly could offer and the thing is that like Grace Kelly, can't do it. Like I've watched her in rear window and other movies, like she can turn on the charm but she does not in this movie. What I think part of that is she supposed to be this Lycra? Reserve kind of mousy Quaker woman, right? But I think part of it too is she was picked for this movie and she was supposed to co-star opposite. Somebody closer to her age.

20:40 At least this movie was, originally offered to John Wayne, who like vehemently violently hated this movie. And we'll talk about why later, but he passed on it and they offered it to younger people. They offered, it's Marlon Brando who said, no, they offered its Montgomery Clift who said, no Gary. Cooper was like, the fourth or fifth choice for this movie. And so, by the time they get to Gary Cooper. I think they kind of had Grace Kelly locked in and they were just like, yeah, we'll make this 30 year age difference work and it does not work. And I think, you know, unfortunately a lot of the blame falls on Grace Kelly because we can't picture this movie without Gary Cooper but in a lot of ways she was kind of given a raw deal as well. Yeah I mean if you're forced next to a star that's 29 years older than you.

21:25 That it's it just didn't work. No. I mean you know what's the Rule half plus 7. So like that means that Gary Cooper should be with a woman 32 or older, and at least and she's 21. It just it just doesn't work and I and if there's a problem with this movie, it's that I really just don't give a rip about Grace Kelly and so when she helps him out at the end, I don't feel any sense of like no. Yeah. Like she helped her husband like there's just zero chemistry between the two. Of these people. And I don't understand like it, like, in the Canon of the movie.

22:05 Why the heck did they get married? Yeah, that's I mean, that just doesn't make any sense. Have no chemistry. And neither one of them is a charismatic person. So they were just maybe they were just attracted by each other's boringness. But but I will say, I think from like a scripting standpoint from like building out the world of the movie making her a Quaker was actually a really great decision like Brad. And I went to a school that a college that is from the Baker tradition and the Quakers are all about, you know, pacifism and non-violence. And I think that the decision to make her a quicker. It's not just this kind of simplistic, like Aw Shucks, I'm a married man. Now, I gotta change my ways, but it's also like, I'm a married man. In my wife is really opposed to the idea of even self-defense, you know, violence and so he has to make this decision to stand up for what he thinks is, Right?

22:55 Knowing that it could basically end up annulling, his brand new marriage and it really He kind of adds this layer to his, you know, quote unquote, Redemption Ark, he wants to get out of being a martial. He wants to establish this new kind of life, and it highlights what he's trying to escape from. And so, at the end of the movie, when she does, pick up a gun and shoot somebody to help him out, you know, I see that as a moment more of tragedy and they kind of show her like start crying after she does it, it's a sign that like the people in this town are so cowardly that this person in Grace Kelly has two. To go against her, most deeply held beliefs to help him out at the end of the movie. And, you know, it's kind of like one of those loss of Innocence moments.

23:38 So I really like that moment. I like that. They added that to her character. I'll still agree with you that it's hard to care because they have so little chemistry with each other. Yeah, I will say a small moment of cinematography that I wish he had, let linger like three seconds longer. There's a shot right? When Gary Cooper is in the, the sad. Re and the he's fighting the last two bad guys and it shows Grace Kelly looking out the window and the shot has like her face looking out the window. And it's angled at just the right like spot to see the gun that Cooper's, former deputy had left hanging on the walls and she ended up her eyes. Kind of look over towards it and they cut right away. Yes, but they cut too fast.

24:25 Literally it neat like the scene just like it was like there. And gone. And I'm like, oh, if you just given that like two more seconds to linger, she like she didn't have to look at it from very long. She didn't have to interact with it. Just seeing it there. I was like, oh, you know, it's gone. Yeah. Well, that was a nice shot. Yeah, so I don't know if I'm complaining there or like complimenting but that was cool. I will say, one other thing with Grace Kelly, there was one small moment of this movie. That reminded me of Bob, what is one of your and eyes? Absolute Films. It reminded me for of the room for like half a second. The Tommy was oh classic. Oh yes.

25:07 Oh interesting, dude. When Grace Kelly and mrs. Ramirez are talking and suddenly she goes my brother and father were killed. I watched my brother died. Like that moment. Just felt like and I have cancer but nobody cares. It's just like like and It's more than just that, like what kind of woman are you? How can you leave him like this, does the Son of Guns, fighting you that much, you know, mrs. Ramirez. I've heard guns my father and my brother were killed by guns. They were on the right side but that didn't help them any when the shooting started. My brother was 19.

25:52 I watched him die. That's when I became a Quaker. I just felt like that the delivery there was so wooden and stilted that I was like wait was Tommy was so directing this like like what's going on and then of course, they never talk about it ever again. No, so there you go. All right, before we go to break, I want to round out this cast a little bit. It has some fantastic supporting actors but for me, I gotta talk about my boy Thomas Mitchell. Maybe the greatest character actor of all time, he's been in everything, like it's amazing when you think about How many movies he was in. But how many movies that he was in ended up becoming all-time classics, and he showed up in this movie and I had forgotten that he was in this movie and he popped up in the very first scene, and I just wrote down, Thomas Mitchell, hell yes. Like because I know when he shows up in a movie I'm going to be on board and he doesn't really have that much to do here.

26:49 And it was kind of surprising to me that this was like, a Thomas Mitchell roll because in so many movies like he adds such a layer of Of depth to a character. That's kind of under written like think Scarlett O'Hara's dad, he's so good and Gone With the Wind and here, he's just kind of like, you know, friend number three and he has a really great scene and I think that that scene in the church where you think he's on Gary Cooper side and then halfway through his speech, he turns on him that actually to me was probably like the Betrayal of Gary Cooper that hurt the most. And I think it's a credit to Thomas Mitchell's acting because The way the movie structured, like, there's still two more people that walk out on him after that. And I think they're supposed to kind of hurt more, but they don't because Thomas Mitchell.

27:36 So good. I'm 100% with you. Bob that scene in the church, it's the it's one of the only times other than when he's in the bar that Gary Cooper actually, like really goes out on a limb and like, makes a little bit of a speech. And then once again, he lets see, lets the townsfolk talk it out. And dude, when Thomas Mitchell starts, you're like, yeah, Man that he's going to get everybody on Cooper's side and there's going to be a posse and it's gonna be super cool and then like halfway through he's like, yeah. But we need to, you know, we need to get some factories down here and if they find out that we shoot guns in the streets they're not going to do it so sorry. Sorry. Gary Coupe we out he didn't have to come back here today and for his sake and the sake of this town I wish he hadn't. Because if he's not here, when Miller comes my hunch? Is that won't be any trouble.

28:30 Not one bit tomorrow. We'll have a new Marshal and if we can all agree here to offer him our services, I think we can handle anything that comes along. Let me that makes sense to me. That's the only way out of this. Well, I think you better go Ella still time. It's better for you and it's better for us. It's the way he frames it to, as like, we really appreciate everything you've done for us, but your time is done here now and it really just paints his whole relationship with Gary Cooper over the years as I don't know, transactional or like it's utilitarian, its parasitic is what it is.

29:13 It's just like we used you to help get this town out of the gutter but now it's inconvenient for us to let you stay any longer. So please do us a favor. Were and get the hell out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that man, it's just brutal and and knowingly. Like, you don't really see Thomas Mitchell throughout the rest of the movie, like his words have damned himself and and he's, you know, consigned to the bowels of the film. Well, I think maybe Brad, if I can, if I can pull out a brad g-type Segway. I think maybe it's time to get some whisky into our bowels. So what do you say? We tried this once. Just get that whiskey. This is gonna go straight on through bad. All right, what do you say?

29:56 We try this new riff bourbon. Let's get to it. Bob Alright so today we are checking out new riff Kentucky. Straight bottled in the bond bourbon, whiskey new riff. As you may know.

30:51 If you've listened to this podcast for a long time, was one of the very first distilleries that ever let us kind of come down and interview their co-founder jair Osman. Who is a huge movie buff? We talked about Akira Kurosawa movies, it was a really fun time. While I was down at The Distillery, we tried their three Flagship Whiskey's which is a bottled and bond bourbon a Holden Bond dry and a barrel proof Bourbon. And when I tried this bottled and bond bourbon, it became my favorite of the three, and I haven't really drank at since then Brad. I've been letting this bottle kind of sit on my shelf for a long time. I'm really excited to go back to it again. After a couple Seasons having, not tried it.

31:32 I mean, I know Brad that when we first got these sample bottles in the mail, they gave us like, you know a fifth each like to share and you drank down your Of the bottle really quick. I remember you liking this a lot. Yeah. This was one of the early Whiskey's where I was like oh I could drink this every day. Yeah, because you know, like drinking whiskey neat. Sure. You can do it every day but it's not. Something you do all the time. But this is the first whiskey, where I was like this bottle, the disappear real quick. Now, I will say, if we had thought this out a little better, today may have been a good day to do the new R if r. I so that we could have said something like High Noon, more like Rye noon and then we The throne over that, you know, we really miss an opportunity.

32:15 There, the beautiful thing though, is Bobby, you still said it? I did I had I couldn't let it go Brad. So film. Whiskey Nation. You're welcome. All right. Brad, we both have this almost at High Noon. We both have this new riff bourbon poured out in front of us. Again, this is a four year aged bourbon. I really love that right on there bottle, they put the mash bill. So we're looking at a 65% corn. 30 %, R I5 % barley mashed Bill really high in Rye. What do you picking up on the nose here? Bob, when I get into the aroma, on this bad boy, I am getting orange and caramel, it's mixing with like a really nice soft Vanilla, some baking spices. This nose just has a lot going on. It's very flavorful and yet like not overpowering. I really really love this knows I'm gonna give it an eight and a half out of ten.

33:08 Yeah. I don't know that I would call this complex and yet I think alike in a lot of ways, it really is the Phoenician of complex because it kind of comes at you in waves, when I first poured it out, it was like, very obviously a bourbon. Lots of caramel character, a nice punch of ethanol on the nose and then it kind of sat for a minute and it took on a much kind of softer fruitier. Characteristic for me, it was more Peach than than orange and then another minute went by and it really took on a really nice Oak and grain character as well. So it's kind of coming in waves at me, but it's got pretty much everything. Thing you could possibly want in the nose of a bourbon, I'm also going to give it an eight and a half out of ten and that gives us into our taste Bob. I was like blown away because I felt like there's a lot of stuff going on on the nose and then I got it into my mouth and there was cinnamon there was like clove the orange came through and then you hit a little bit of that spiciness from the Rye. I just really, really enjoyed this taste. Yeah, this has a lot of like Taking spice and then almost like a bitters kind of wouldn't, I wouldn't say bitter but bitters like it has that sort of angostura almost kind of taste to it, like really herbal and then a lot of oak on the backend.

34:26 It's not super sweet but it also doesn't tip into being bitter at all. It just has a really nice herbal quality to it all the way through man. I'm really digging this and it has. It definitely has a punch to it from the ethanol as well as you can tell. This is 100 proof. I think it actually drinks a little bit hotter than 100 proof. But even then it's not, it's not harsh, it's not overpowering. This is a really, really well-balanced whiskey, which will get to obviously, in the balance score. Brad. I think I'm gonna give this a nine out of ten on the taste. I think I'm a little bit softer than you on that. I like it a lot. It's not blowing me away, but I'm gonna give it an 8 out of 10 on the taste.

35:06 Well, that takes us to finish. I think that's where this one kind of and it doesn't falter but it takes on a He distinctly like like a 7-Up kind of taste for me like a lemon lime thing as soon as I swallow, it almost tastes like a flat lemon-lime soda and then it has a pretty nice Kentucky hug or like a chest warming thing on the way down again. Nothing harsh. Very mouth-watering. I like this a lot but I think that the complexity that you got on the nose and The Taste kind of go away and make it more of like a one-note finish. So I'll just give this a seven and a half on the Finish. Yeah, I'm with you. Bob. I'm going to give it a seven and a half, I think that you still have some stuff going on.

35:47 It's nice and spicy on the Finish. You get some of the oakiness throughout, but it just kind of tails off a bit. You lose some of those crazy fun flavors that you had on the nose in the palette, alright, that takes us to overall balance, Brad. I think this is an incredibly well-balanced whiskey. It really doesn't hint at anything, that it doesn't deliver like that. Nose was not overly sweet, and then, I think, Palette was not overly sweet, so it's definitely in a very specific kind of flavor wheel house. I think, but it's consistent all the way across with it. I think I'm going to give this a nine on balance. Yeah, I'm going to give it an eight and a half. It's complex and yet all of the flavors work together, beautifully to give you an experience that you're not going to forget. All right.

36:33 So, that takes us pretty quickly. I might add, we've gone through this really fast that takes us to the price the value and in the state of Ohio, this bad boy will Only set you back 3999 and I think that is an absolute steal. Now again there are a lot of people out there that say they prefer the the barrel proof version or this. I'm sorry, not Barrel proof the single barrel version. I almost always try to steer people away from single barrels just because there is variation from Barrel to Barrel. If you're into that sort of thing great I'll always take a small batch over a single barrel and it just so happens that this is still 100 Proof. And it's cheaper and because of that like I think this is a home run. Anyone who's out there that has been struggling to get their hands on like a Henry McKenna.

37:22 And even now Ohio's raise the price of Henry McKenna to $50. I think this is really comparable to Henry McKenna and it's going to be at least $10 cheaper and easy to find. I think again Brad I'm going to give this a nine out of ten on value. Yeah this is an eight and a half for me. I mean, $40 it. You know if we're looking at our normal Mille price range scale. Like I would say the majority of bourbon that I would buy as in like the 28 to 32 dollar range and so $40. It's a little bit above my normal price range, but for a product like this I'm sold. This is a great whiskey that you really can't find Value like this at $40 knows.

38:07 Now also I think we're just going to be honest and say we're both huge fans of The Distillery itself. It has a Cool history. You know, basically, starting out as part of the Party Source store there in Kentucky, it became a brand that was called, okay, I for a long time and then they launched their own Distillery, which became new riff the bottle that we have was distilled in Fall of 2014 bottled in Fall of 2018 which really just throws me back Brad because we got this bottle like right when we started this podcast in 2019. So I'd be really interested to see if this has changed or matured anymore. As the process has gone on as they've expanded their distribution last few years. But even in this kind of older bottle that we're drinking now, it is really tough to find a better value than new riff bottled and bond and I'm coming out to a 43 out of 50 on this. Yeah, I'm at a forty one out of 50 Bob. Well, that makes it pretty easy to find our average. We are at a 42 out of 50 or an 84 out of 100. As you guys know anything, over a 40 is pretty much an immediate go out and buy.

39:12 And luckily, this is truly one of those things that you can find at most liquor stores across the United States. It's super affordable. It's really really reasonable. I would absolutely recommend trying buying, go get a bottle now. Yeah, this really joins like rarefied air. There are not many Whiskey's under $50 that hit that 40 plus range for us. So filming whiskey Nation, get out there and buy you some new Riff bourbon. It's phenomenal. Alright Brad let's get back into talking about High Noon. Sounds good to me. All right, that was new riff bottled in bond bourbon whiskey. We both really, really love.

40:34 We're getting back into talking about high noon and Brad. I am going to go back through the annals of History to pull up a segment. I have not done in a long time, which we started just this season and then immediately dropped that. We called Bob ruins it. Yeah, II. You know, I just I need a place to nitpick a little bit sometimes and uh-huh. A lot of them. Movies that we've done this season. I just haven't seen any major gaping plot, holes, or nits to pick. And finally, a movie has risen to the occasion today. Brad, I guess here's my question. I don't know if this ruins the whole movie but they are really really counting on you. The viewer to not think very much about Frank Miller's plan. Like they want you to see it from Gary Cooper's point of view.

41:18 Oh yeah. But when you really think about it, I have no idea what Frank Miller's plan was. Like those four guys that show up to come assassinate will Kane. There's no way they could have known that the whole town was going to abandon Gary Cooper and that he would be on his own in their minds. They had to know that it was going to be like for against 50 right. Was this supposed to be a suicide mission or or not? And if it wasn't like what the hell is their plan? See the thing is if they had set it up in the sense that his Friends. His little Posse had like lived in the town the whole time. Then you could probably just explain it away and be like, oh well like he knows that the town is a pathetic now and probably won't help will Kane. But like they ride into town at the start of the movie, Never physical.

42:09 Guess who's back, right? So like yeah, I he's just going to show up. He's gonna kill him, some will Kane. And and that's that's the plan Bob that, that's it, man. Yeah, I said he's a very one-dimensional. No villain with the worst name in the world ranked. No. But seriously, like I know that in the bar, like the bartender says, what are you doing in here? Will Kane, don't you know, Frank Miller's. Got friends in this building. You're gonna come in and talk about killing him and it's like, all right, well, even assuming that Frank Miller has friends in the bar. There are way more people in that town who would at least on paper be willing to get deputized and shoot Frank Miller. So I just like, I mean, you know again maybe he's just driven by By his revenge but it just seemed like a really, really stupid plot to me.

42:57 Yeah, I mean, maybe the town is just a pathetic on both sides because if Frank Miller had friends in that bar, why didn't they show up to help kill Cain? You know, like this, this town isn't just apathetic about good Bob, they're apathetic about evil as well. They just like to watch a good show, you know like that guy that guy in the the hotel. That's actually a brothel like the front desk guy. He's like boy oh boy I can't wait till noon. We're gonna see us a good show. Today. So I remember it's just like the whole town is like that. I just wanted to throttle that actor. Oh my gosh. His delivery of those lines was just like cringe worthy, but like, but kind of perfect for what that character was supposed to be.

43:40 Yeah, maybe I'm sure I don't know, man. I there were certain stuff in this movie where I'm like, oh that's just it's just not good at all. But but man, I Gosh, darn it. If I still don't. Just love this movie Bob. I know man, before we go into final scores, I want to talk about kind of, you know, the background of the movie and the legacy of the movie. It's very obvious. You know, if you know to look for it that this is kind of an allegory for what was going on in the United States at the time, this movie was written, basically in response to the quote-unquote Red, Scare, and the Communist Witch Hunt that was being led by Joseph McCarthy. A lot of people in this movie actually ended up being called before the house on American activities. These committee perhaps kind of ironically the actor Lloyd Bridges who you know, the father of Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges who plays the kind of cowardly.

44:33 Deputy in this movie, he got called before Hugh act and he ended up recanting. He said that he had been a communist at one time and he was sorry and kind of took in some ways, the Cowardly way out. And it's really interesting to see the way this movie Mirrors that, but the whole point of the movie was, let's tell a story. You know metaphorically. Or allegorically about what is happening in our country right now and so they wanted to portray it as we see America, as being basically pushed around by a bunch of bullies right now and not willing to stand up for what's right? Because they're too afraid of what might happen to them in return. And I think that it's, I mean, I really do think this is a fantastic example of how to tell a quote-unquote political story, you know, in the in the guise of like a genre movie Yeah, I mean, if anything, I think that one of the most frustrating thing about modern Cinema is, you know, especially in the world of Disney is just the fact that they're there zero subtlety like, at all about anybody's political agenda. Like, you just know exactly what you're getting and that's on like both sides of the aisle.

45:46 Yeah. Like if you watch things like, I don't know, like Last Man Standing or Blue Bloods like, you know, traditionally conservative tea. TV shows like you know what? You're getting into. If you go into a Clint Eastwood film, you know, he's going to be conservator like and it's just really obvious every single time and I think that's the frustrating thing about political statements in will just say in like culture and television and movies. There's just no subtlety anymore, man. But I think what makes it what makes it good as when you see an example that really works. So like, you know, I don't even think that I would call this movie subtle. It's not subtle like it. Very overt, what they're trying to say, but it's very clever.

46:26 And I think, you know, like when I was trying to think of an analogy to today, my mind immediately went to knives out which was, you know, on paper, a murder mystery, but is very, very obviously Ryan Johnson's kind of Reflections on the immigration crisis during the Trump era. And, you know, the idea of kind of like class Warfare. It was his response to the idea of like the one percenters as well and I think you know you get some incredible images. Imagery in that movie. And then it kind of gets the point at the end, where you have Chris Evans, basically, giving away you kind of tipping, Ryan Johnson's hand and saying, stuff like you think you can come into my ancestral, Family Home.

47:07 And, and so, like, you know what, he's going for, but I still, I still respect it because it was so cleverly wrapped up in, like a genre movie. And I wish that there was more of that. Like, I don't mind a political message, in movies at all. It's just you need to Some some thought into how you're going to make it clever on screen and not just preachy. Yeah, I mean, we can get into knives out another day, but that was like, the only thing about that movie, that made it like just rough for me. Oh interesting. Like everything else in Knives Out works for me, all of the political stuff. Just, it just kind of makes me want to puke. Well, I just think the thing with knives out for me is that it's not the political message that he's saying, it's the fact that he reduces all the Ders to like very flat portraits of like like they're basically memes of different like stereotypes and politics right now.

48:03 And that's what frustrates me so much about it. But when it comes, it's fun. When it comes to high noon I think they did it really really well. And you know it just kind of reminds me like we think back to things happening like the Communist Witch Hunt and we look at, you know, the art that was coming out at that time. And I think sometimes we really don't. Realize like this was happening contemporaneously like this was happening at the same time. Those hearings were happening on Capitol Hill and I love seeing a movie like that, that's like ballsy enough to kind of take a stand one way or the other, by the way, this is why John Wayne hated this movie because John Wayne was like, passionately in support of hue.

48:45 A canned as the Motion Picture Association president at the time, he really aligned the mpa with the media columnists. And the people in Washington to kind of triangulate, you know, we need to find these commies, we need to get him out of Hollywood. And so he read this script and he was like, hell no. Like he actually went off and made the movie Rio Bravo with Howard Hawks as a response to this movie, because he hated it. Till his dying day. He said that high noon is the most unamerican thing I've ever seen in my life. And it's really funny because like now, you know, in popular parlance like High Noon is one of the most Good movies and when you know whether or not people are actually thinking about the political undertones of the movie, you look at a guy like will Kane just standing up for what he believes is, right? Even though no one else will stand with him. And I think people see that and they're like, what could be more American than that?

49:40 So it's just really funny to see like, what it was thought of when it first came out versus the kind of separate life, it's taken on since then. Yeah, I mean, I think that the beauty of high noon is exactly what you just said, Bob that in the Face of what they present to be abject evil and like darkness and Badness. Like, all it takes is one man to stand up and do what is right? And and that's like pretty core to the American Mythos. Yeah, right for sure. That like Good Will triumph over evil even in the face of an entirely a pathetic town of people who won't get up off their butts and and help this guy out.

50:20 And so, this movie does stick around For good reason. And I think as I get into like thinking about final scores for this movie, it's funny because we started this this episode by talking about how much we love this movie. And then I honestly, I feel like we just kind of like pooped on the movie throughout but like I'm coming to a point where I'm like yeah there's a lot of problems in this movie and things that I don't care for but it's still just a great story. Yeah and I just really really love what they do. Did here Bob. I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10. Yeah but I'm kind of in a similar place with you because when the American Film Institute first put out their 100 greatest movies list back in 97.

51:05 I think this movie was number 27 and I don't know where it was the second time. They released the list but this is one of the most, highly regarded American movies ever and it's in a really similar place in my mind with To Kill a Mockingbird, which we did way back in season 1 and we watch that movie through and I was like, man, it's a It's an undeniably great movie, but there's just something about it that it has obvious flaws. And yet like I recognize the importance I have. Absolutely no problem with this movie being rated in the top, you know, 30, American movies and I think that we have, we've barely talked about the director, Fred zinnemann. This is a true feat of directing and of editing. This movie is just so tightly constructed, but I think I respect it more on like a Making level then I do it as like a movie that connects with me emotionally, the characters are so stoic and the ones who aren't stoic really kind of come across as like 1950s TV actors.

52:07 There's not a lot of kind of naturalistic performances going on in this movie at all. And I think because of that, I just didn't connect with it as much as I thought I would. I still respect the message. Like I love what this movie is saying. I think it says it really really well. But it's a movie that I respect and appreciate more than a movie that really hits me emotionally. So I'm going to give it a 9 and a half out of ten and that puts our average out to a nine point two five out of ten. But we want to know what you think. I'm sure a lot of people have seen this movie growing up. What do you think of High Noon? You can get at us on social media, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, at film whiskey, or you can leave us a voicemail, let your voice be heard on the film. In whiskey podcast, you can.

52:53 Do that on our website which is anchored on FM / film whiskey. Next week, we are taking a very different turn into the world of Wes Anderson. We're going to be doing our very first Wes Anderson movie. We're going to be joined by a special guest to look at what I think might be his best film. The Royal Tenenbaums. So join us for that next week until then I'm Bob book. I have never seen a Wes Anderson movie. No. Boy, you're jumping like headfirst buddy like ever like not not just for the podcasters. So I don't know. And your name. Well, I'm Brad. Yeah, they're innocent and we'll see you next time.

54:00 I do not have transitions that bad, bro. I feel like you pick the cheesiest possible Segway in every scenario and it's freaking brilliant man in our bowels man. I do not have transitions that bad, bro. I feel like you pick the cheesiest possible Segway in every scenario and it's freaking brilliant man in our bowels man.