This week on Alcohollywood, we’re tackling our first sports movie AND our first cancer movie with the 1971 ABC Movie of the Week Brian’s Song! The film is a tale of friendship, adversity, and very short shorts, which stars James Caan (of The Godfather and Mickey Blue Eyes fame) and Billy Dee Williams (of Star Wars and The Ladies’ Man: The Movie fame). Together, they navigate the difficulties of interracial friendships and the rigors of a professional football season with a classiness and sophistication atypical of a movie made for television, even today.
Check out our drink, our rules and our review – Jared and Clint tackle the usual limitations of made-for-TV movies, the saccharine nature of both sports and terminal illness movies, and how this movie seems to defy both. Be sure to make our drink and pick up a copy of an incredibly heartfelt movie full of both raw emotion and cheezy ’70s goodness – also 12 Angry Men’s Jack Warden in an Emmy-winning supporting role as the coach!
LISTEN HERE OR DOWNLOAD:
THIS EPISODE’S DRINK: The Dyin’ Brian
1 part peanut-infused vodka
1 part walnut liqueur
8 parts urban wheat ale (e.g. Goose Island 312, for that Chicago taste)
1 part hazelnut liqueur
1 part coffee liqueur
Pour in pilsner glass; swizzle. Honey rim and roll in crushed pretzels. Garnish with pretzel.
DRINKING RULES FOR BRIAN’S SONG:
- Whenever you see someone in short ’70s shorts
- Any time you see stock footage (e.g. football footage)
- Every time Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) says “Uh-huh.”
FINISH YOUR DRINK WHEN:
Gale Sayers says “I love Brian Piccolo, and I’d like for all of you to love him too.”
Join us next week for St. Patrick’s Day, as we tackle one of the wackier films in the Leprechaun franchise – one surprisingly overlooked, typically due to the half the films in the series taking place “in the hood.” Leprechaun 4: Leprechaun in Space is up next Thursday, so see you then!
If you like us, please subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to us on iTunes or Podfeed.net. Also subscribe to our Facebook and Twitter pages to find out more awesome stuff in the works!
LIKE THE DRINK? LIKE THE RULES? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
That Jared sure loves to infuse his vodka…