The South Shall Rise Again

[BentonGrey]

Or at least the food will.  Howdy guys, I'm crazy busy right now, seeing as I'm in the home stretch for this semester, but the wife and I are planning a southern food party to introduce all of our friends here in Yankee land to the culinary wonders that they are missing by living above the Mason-Dixon Line and I need your collective movie knowledge.  We want to show a classic southern movie that night, but seeing as the South is one of Hollywood's favored whipping boys when pictured at all, the choices are quite slim.  We're thinking of showing "Cool Hand Luke," which isn't ideal, but is an incredibly great movie.  We considered "Gone with the Wind," but who has four hours to kill at a party?  I would really like a movie with a confederate hero, but those are almost none existent, with the exception of "The Outlaw Josie Wales."  Do y'all have any suggestions?

[Glitch Girl]

"Big Fish" and "Fried Green Tomatoes" (despite being a "chick flick") are pretty good options IMO.  (the scene in the parking lot is a personal favorite)

[yell0w_lantern]

Mosquito Coast or Medicine Man - both are quite Southern.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

You might also consider "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000), which has a little helping of something for everyone (comedy, romance, music, action, *cough* literary allusions).  I'm sure I know of others (which also do not treat the south as a whipping boy), but they are not leaping to mind at the moment.

EDIT: "The Prince of Tides" (1991) and "Down by Law" (1986).

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[GhostMachine]

I second the recommendation for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Its a fine movie, and has a darn good soundtrack as well.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" might work, as its set in Alabama. (Bit of trivia, in case any of the people you'll be showing it to are comic book fans: when Superman returned from the dead after the whole Doomsday thing, he mentioned the movie's title to prove to Lois that it was really him; its apparently Clark Kent's favorite movie)

[Pyroclasm]

I too cast a vote for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
Fantastic movie.

[BWPS]

Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector

Don't forget the possum, pig ears, beer battered chicken, beer battered fish (preferably with that nice smooth Chattahoochee taste), beer battered cake, beer battered Skoal, beer-bottle battered six-fingered children, and RC!

[GhostMachine]

RC Cola and Moon Pies. `nuff said.

[BentonGrey]

Very funny YL, hardy har har.   :P

I hadn't thought of "Big Fish," and although I love the movie, it's a bit too heavy on the fantasy for what I'm going for.  "O' Brother Where Art Thou" is certainly a good option, thanks for the suggestion my fine Bunburyist, but I think I've probably seen it a few times too often here recently.  While I love "To Kill a Mockingbird" (and I didn't know that about it being Clark's favorite movie...makes sense), I would rather watch a movie that didn't center on the sins of the South.

Larry The Cable Guy=Dang Yankee indulging in Southern stereotypes for a living.  The guy is from Nebraska for heaven's sakes.

[herodad1]

hey benton,i'm a fellow southerner.how about these choices 1.)smokey and the bandit: car chases,comedy, and action. 2.) forrest gump 3.) southern comfort 4.) or slingblade.i'd go with smokey and the bandit.its high energy and no body will get bored.plenty of laughs.

[BentonGrey]

Hmm......"Smokey and the Bandit" might just work, not a bad idea Herodad.

[captainspud]

Try "Song of the South", it has "South" right in the title, so it must be authentic.

It's pretty short, so you can play "Birth of a Nation" during dessert.

[Protomorph]

I think it's pretty telling that it's so hard to find movies that make the south look good. :o

[ow_tiobe_sb]

I think it's pretty telling that it's so hard to find movies that make the south look good. :o

It won't help then to mention "Forrest Gump."

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[Pyroclasm]

Try "Song of the South", it has "South" right in the title, so it must be authentic.

It's pretty short, so you can play "Birth of a Nation" during dessert.

You can also add to the festivities with "Deliverance".

[BentonGrey]

I think it's pretty telling that it's so hard to find movies that make the south look good. :o

Yes, very telling of the ignorance and bias in Hollywood, but then that's hardly news.

[captainspud]

The two I named weren't made in Hollywood.

[thalaw2]

Hustle & Flow --that opening scene is one of my all time favorites and any movie with Issac Hayes is cool!

[RTTingle]

RC Cola and Moon Pies. `nuff said.

I'm with you.  Born and raised on them goodies by the grandparents.  Weekly shopping staples for me.

Sadly, Song of the South has never been released on Video or DVD Spuds, and from what Disney folks say --- never will.

I'm all for Smokey and The Bandit too.  Fun stuff.  I have to say I enjoy the part where Burt and Sally try to associate with each other and shes ask him about Broadway and he asks her about Nascar and he drops a good pearl about how smart you are to others sometimes depends on where you were born.

Awesome car chases aside and the bit of chemisty 'tween Burt and Sally, the movie belongs to Jackie Gleason.

Something a bit more for the ladies would probably be Sweet Home Alabama.  The ending has to be the damn corniest and stupidest though.  I'd take Doc Hollywood above that - I enjoy it more and honestly really like it.

RTT

[Uncle Yuan]

I hadn't thought of "Big Fish," and although I love the movie, it's a bit too heavy on the fantasy for what I'm going for.  "O' Brother Where Art Thou" is certainly a good option, thanks for the suggestion my fine Bunburyist, but I think I've probably seen it a few times too often here recently.  While I love "To Kill a Mockingbird" (and I didn't know that about it being Clark's favorite movie...makes sense), I would rather watch a movie that didn't center on the sins of the South.

Technically true, but then Atticus is a southerner, too.

For a decent romantic comedy try "Sweet Home Alabama" and don't forget "Gone with the Wind!"

[GogglesPizanno]

I wholeheartedly endorse "Smokey and The Bandit"
Or go for the double feature and add "Gator" to the list.

Not only do you get a double helping of the Burt... But Jerry Reed as well!?!

-- And there is no stupid elephant plot...

[Glitch Girl]

Oh gads, I HATED "Sweet Home Alabama" so MUCH (shudder).

Though  "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a good watch.

-GG
Birmingham-ian 

[Panther_Gunn]

Dare I suggest the original Longest Yard?  Yes, I dare.  :P

[zuludelta]

I'm surprised nobody's brought up Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil yet. I thought it was good bit of "Southern Gothic" mixed in with slice-of-life observational humour, although there's a lot of scenery-chewing and overacting that goes on in that film.

[daglob]

You could show "Back Roads", with Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field. Or you could show "Stone Cold" with Brian Bosworth and Lance Hendrickson , "Solutaker" with Joe Estevez and Robert Z'dar, or "Friday the 13th Part III" or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", or "Under Siege". They were all filmed either here in Mobile or across the Bay; "Back Roads", "Solutaker", and "Stone Cold" actually take place in this vicinity.

Oh, and you are going to serve collards cooked with smoked hog jowl, aren't you? Me, I cut up a green pepper in it before I start it on the stove.

Okay, if you don't have hog jowl, you can use salt pork. You could substitute turnip greens (but be sure to put a little turnip root in), mustard greens, or kale.

Bill, stuck inside of Mobile.

...and hungry now, dammit.

[Gremlin]

O Brother, definitely. :thumbup:

[BentonGrey]

Well, the wife won't go for Smokey and the Bandit.........philistine.   ;)

[GhostMachine]

You could show "Back Roads", with Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field. Or you could show "Stone Cold" with Brian Bosworth and Lance Hendrickson , "Solutaker" with Joe Estevez and Robert Z'dar, or "Friday the 13th Part III" or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", or "Under Siege". They were all filmed either here in Mobile or across the Bay; "Back Roads", "Solutaker", and "Stone Cold" actually take place in this vicinity.

Oh, and you are going to serve collards cooked with smoked hog jowl, aren't you? Me, I cut up a green pepper in it before I start it on the stove.

Okay, if you don't have hog jowl, you can use salt pork. You could substitute turnip greens (but be sure to put a little turnip root in), mustard greens, or kale.

Bill, stuck inside of Mobile.

...and hungry now, dammit.

Some of those movies have NOTHING to do with the south, regardless of location, though, and:

"Soultaker" was.....featured....in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. `nuff said. (Interestingly enough, its the episode where TV's Frank and Joel return for guest appearances)

"Stone Cold" is probably my least favorite movie with Lance Henricksen in it. Brian Bosworth is a decent enough actor for an action hero (like that would be a problem....  :rolleyes: ), but the movie kind of stinks.

My advice would be to serve them some southern-style cornbread (ie, no sugar in it) or biscuits and gravy depending on what you serve to eat, and definitely some Moon Pies, if you can get them, for dessert or a snack during the movie. (Personally I don't like RC Cola, which I mentioned before, but that's what a lot of people (like my father) grew up drinking - I prefer Pepsi, myself)

"Thunder Road" would be good. Its about moonshine drivers, but.....a. It doesn't treat them like your stereotypical stupid hillbilly. b. Moonshine drivers are what led to the birth of NASCAR. Junior Johnson and a lot of other NASCAR pioneers were moonshine drivers when they started racing in the first place. c. Its got Robert Mitchum in the lead role plus he sings the theme song (!) and Robert Mitchum = Money. (Part of it also takes place in my neck of the woods - the whole thing actually takes place in my state - but that's not why I recommend it; I recommend it because its a darn fine movie) d. Dollywood used to have a ride based on it, but they shut it down several years ago, and it was one of my favorite rides.

You could also show them episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, but explain Barney Fife (comedy relief), Goober (village idiot??) and Otis (town drunk) and make sure the episodes don't have the Darlins, Ernest T. Bass or Gomer (makes Goober look like Albert Einstein) in them......

I have two criticisms about the way Hollywood treats southerners:

a. Whenever someone does a fake southern accent, it sounds like they're doing one based on an accent from a particular part of Georgia, no matter where the character is supposed to be from. If you REALLY want to approximate a southern accent, don't concentrate on fully pronouncing certain words - anything with "i" in it, including the word "I" - we sort of only....half pronounce the "i", and we more or less drop the "g" from anything ending in "ing". "Going" sort of like "Go-n", but not quite, when I say it, for example. (I can't spell how to half-pronounce the letter "i", obviously)

b. We're treated like hillbillies, slow or idiots - The Beverly Hillbillies show, for example - or like the characters in Deliverance *shudder* or total drunks. The truth is we're more laid back than most Americans - we could give Californians a run for their money in that department - and I can tell you right now we're also more hospitable than just about anyone.

I can drop my accent if I want to, but its a pain in the butt, because I actually have to speak slower to do it (I took Radio Broadcasting in high school and a public speaking course in community college) since I have to overpronounce words.

[daglob]

Ghostmachine, your assessment of those movies is highly accurate. I probably should have used a tongue-in-cheek emoticon, but I really don't like emoticons. I wouldn't really suggest any of them.

The best thing about "Stone Cold" is watching it to see the sights of Mobile, and laughing at the motorcycle chase when the guys are zooming around town, sometimes each on a different road, then at one point having to jump across the Mobile River and teleport five miles for the sequence of events to happen.

"Soultaker" is an AWFUL movie. For some reason there were a lot of awful movies made in Mobile, most from the same company that did "Soultaker".

Close Encounters is a movie that Mobilians see to try to recognize the scenery and the people; one of the girls I taught in Sunday School was an alien child, and her father was one of the techs on "the dark side of the moon".

I didn't include "Dead Reckoning" with Humphrey Bogart and Lisabeth Scott. It takes place along the Gulf Coast somewhere between New Orleans and Pensacola. Funny how the scenery looks like Southern California or a soundstage...

I haven't seen Thunder Road in years... good choice.

The thing that bothers me most is when some non-southerner missuses "y'all". It is a contraction for "you all", in which form it is also missused. It is also the southern equivalent of "youse guys", and no one would think of using that term to address a single person, but y'all is used that way far too often.

The corn bread (I really don't like sweet corn bread) would go well with the greens; something to sop up the pot liquor.

Hey, Barq's root beer was originally bottled in the South; I was married to a relation of the Barq family. Coca Cola now owns the brand. It's not the same, but still...

[GhostMachine]

Just wanted to mention that in lieu of smoked hog jowls (something I've never eaten, and just like two other "southern delicacies", pickled pig's feet and chitlins, never will - I know people who have eaten chitlins and tell me I'm lucky I've never tried them) or salt pork, ham hocks will work. If you don't want to do collard greens, then green beans with either bacon or some ham mixed in is a good alternative. Black-eyed peas would make a decent side dish, also. However, myself I generally only eat those on New Year's, as I'm not a big fan of them.

Some grits as a side dish might be nice. Some people eat grits with sugar, but I prefer mine with butter and salt.

Isn't Hank Aaron originally from Mobile, or someplace close by?