Watch Cocktail 1988

[Heron Mathis]

Combineall ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass, and garnish with a fresh strawberry and paper umbrella. Then sit and think about the guy who invented the paper umbrella, and how rich he must be by now.

Starring Cruise as a slippery car dealer who discovers he has an autistic brother (played masterfully by Dustin Hoffman), this film has so much heart, humor, and emotional growth that I dare even the biggest cynic to scoff. As Charlie and Raymond Babbitt traverse the USA in a classic convertible roadster, they learn what it means to be a family. In their world, family lets you borrow underwear briefs and then fling them onto the highway. Family teaches you how to count cards and make a ridiculous amount of money on the blackjack tables in Vegas. And family gets you a tiny little TV so you can watch Judge Wapner and eat cheesy puffs in the middle of the day. We should all be so lucky to have a brother like that.

My drink pairing for Magnolia is an obvious choice. Given the amount of weather references in the film, I have to pair it with a Dark & Stormy. This is a favorite drink of mine that combines simple ingredients into a refreshing cocktail. I like to imagine that Quiz Kid Donnie Smith finally grows up and goes back to that upholstered bar stool and orders up a tall cocktail like this.

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Summer is upon us, and for those that imbibe, we have a special Movie Night treat: exceptional guest writer and Movie Night\u2019s resident mixologist Elliott Dicus. Elliott is crafting unique cocktails for you to enjoy with each recommendation this month. While I feel guilty that the first film he\u2019s working with is, uh, not good, I\u2019m confident that, paired with his creations and a healthy respect for bad movies, you\u2019ll have a great time with some friends. Please enjoy watching films and having beverages responsibly, and happy summer!

Cocktail (1988) is not a good movie. Peep the 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Check out the trailer linked below. Given the impressively unimpressive camera work and choreography of imbibement culture therein, you\u2019d think it was a film adaptation of a second-rate SNL sketch. If the film could be summarized in a gif, it would be this one:

But let\u2019s consider what\u2019s excellent about the gif above: It\u2019s got a young Tom Cruise earnestly attempting to make something work despite himself. It can be read as an honest Cruise performance, much like Magnolia (1999) is considered one of his best for its uncanny prescience. If any film was an early indication of the staying power of Tom Cruise, it was this dud that makes for an enjoyable (and ironic) summer watch with friends and some adult beverages.

Let me summarize the film briefly: Cocktail is a romantic drama that follows Brian Flanagan (Cruise), a young and ambitious bartender with dreams of becoming a successful businessman. That\u2019s about as specific as his goal will get. He meets an experienced bartender named Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown), who teaches him the art of flair bartending and the importance of attracting female customers. Brian falls in love with an artist named Jordan (Elisabeth Shue), but their relationship is challenged as Brian's career takes off and he becomes involved with a wealthy woman. If one was being generous, one could say the film is about love, ambition, and the consequences of sacrificing personal relationships for professional success.

The downside is that the movie isn\u2019t a self-aware 80s film; it\u2019s just an 80s film. Greed is good, and Brian Flanagan sucks. Pursuing material success justifies almost any behavior: manipulation, neglect, and short-term gratification. For these reasons, I recommend you get together with some friends this week and watch something that sucks. Have a conversation about it. Break it down. Talk about why it sucks and what newer movies you\u2019ve seen hide their complete lack of principle and ethics under a sheen of contemporary cool. (Email me if you think of some!) A \u201Cbad\u201D film can be a good film if it inspires something in you or helps you understand the world a little better, and this is a flop that can do just that.

The flair bartending in Cocktail draws a definite line to John Bandy who initially developed his techniques while \u201Cworking\u201D at T.G.I. Friday\u2019s in the 1980s, and who trained Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown for the movie. However, if we look a little deeper, bartenders have been entertaining their patrons since at least the 1860s when \u201CProfessor\u201D Jerry Thomas developed the Blue Blazer right here in San Francisco. In between, tiki bars have dazzled with flaming drinks and brilliant colors since the 1930s, both a staple of flashy bartending.

We\u2019re going to be making a riff on the Blue Blazer with a nod toward some of that rich history. We\u2019ll be adding Cranberry (from the Sex on the Beach in Brian\u2019s \u201Cpoem\u201D) to Blue Cura\u00E7ao (that you\u2019d find in any fishbowl-sized Friday\u2019s libation) to get a deep and brooding purple - moody, like the scene where Jordan tells Brian she\u2019s pregnant and he\u2019s an unrepentant asshole. Add in some imitation tiki flavor, a la that bar he works at in Jamaica, and we\u2019re off. Anyhow, flair tricks take a long time to master - many scenes in the movie involve mistakes, or cut before the failure is obvious. To hell with that. Instead, we\u2019re just going to light shit on fire.

After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.

inspired: cocktail (1988) is a gay tragedy about two men, one who's lead down a path of self-hatred due to his inability to correctly conform to what capitalist patriarchy expects of him, and the other who learns to assimilate into it because of the outcome of his former lover's inner demons

I saw another review which said, 'it never bores' and then gave it 2 out of 10. It's on that same basis that I'm giving it 7 out of 10. It's entertaining escapism from beginning to end. I mean, it is drivel or course, but that's not the point. It's okay for 80s movies to be drivel, as long as they hold our attention, and take us back to that time in a fond way. That's really why most of us watch 80s movies isn't it? It's to remember the energy and the feel of that period, when life seemed simpler in many ways. We knew who we were and what we were meant to do. And that's what this film does....the characters know who they are, and what they are meant to be doing....even when they don't. Even existential crisis in the 80s was simpler (in films at least). It's a good trip back in time.

"Cocktail" from 1988 is one of the films that solidified Tom Cruise's superstar status. He stars in this film with Bryan Brown, Lisa Banes, and Elizabeth Shue.

Cruise plays Brian Flanagan, a young man with a lot of dreams of making big bucks. After getting out of the service, he relentlessly seeks a job in New York City, finally snagging one as a bartender in a upper east side, trendy bar, where he works alongside Doug Coughlin, his boss. Before long they're an attraction in and of themselves, throwing bottles to one another, finishing off each other's drinks, all the while dancing, turning, and gyrating.

Brian goes to business school as well, but given his late nights, it's exhausting and not very fulfilling.

He and Doug both have dreams of owning their own bars, and the two become great friends. However, after a huge fight, Brian goes to Jamaica and runs a bar there, making good money and falling for Jordan, a pretty waitress (Shue). Then Doug shows up, having married rich, and when a very classy, upscale woman (Banes) comes to the bar, Doug bets Brian that he can't get to first base with her. He does, and Jordan sees him do it, and drops out of the picture.

Back in New York, Brian finds out living with a high-powered woman is no picnic - in fact, it's pretty humiliating -- and he runs into Jordan again.

"Cocktail" doesn't have much of a plot, but it has two very attractive leading men, sexy Bryan Brown and, of course, Cruise, handsome even with his old nose and looking quite different than he did in "The Color of Money." He's very charming,likable, and exudes a lot of youthful energy. He has some emotional moments, too, which he handles well.

"Cocktail" is a light film aimed at a younger crowd than I was even in 1988, but anyone can enjoy its swinging New York atmosphere, lazy Jamaican sun, great soundtrack, and two wild bartenders. Underneath it all, it's about the dreams of youth and the reality of being out in the world. That's a message everyone learns pretty quickly.

The stage curtains open ...

"Cocktail", despite being cringeworthy in parts, is a guilty pleasure of mine and a film I have enjoyed watching from time to time over the years. It came out at a good time in my life, so just the very thought of the movie will bring a smile to my face as it takes me to a good place with great memories. It is also highlighted by a fun soundtrack with "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys leading the way.

Young Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) returns home from the military with big dreams and aspirations of making it big, getting rich quick. So, he strikes out on the streets of New York to find employment, only to be turned away at every point. He finds his way into a bar and meets the man who will change his life, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). They become fast friends and rise quickly in the nightlife scene until a girl comes between them. Brian goes to Jamaica where he meets Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue) - the girl who will also change his life. Things are going great until Doug shows up again.

Yes ... the acting in this one is pretty pitiful. Tom Cruise is so full of himself in this movie that even his laughs seem fake (part of that cringeworthy factor). The relationship between Brian and Jordan is almost believable. What really shines in this movie though, is the chemistry and the relationship between Brian and Doug. This is where the movie succeeds. I love the back and forth banter between these two.

I know this movie bombed with critics and moviegoers alike, but as I mentioned, I like it. Watching them toss and flip bottles to the sounds of 80's music with a heavy dose of early Tom Cruise flair and a fun story - this one is a recommend at 7 stars out of 10. I still watch it today and smile just as much each time. Besides, it has one of the best poems ever filmed.

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