Here are a few favorite movie scenes in which wine is discussed.
Notorious (1946)
Scene Setup: American agent, T.R. Devlin (Gary Grant) and Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), a beautiful woman with a tainted past, try to find out what her husband, Alex, and his ring of Nazis are up to in post-war Rio de Janeiro. They suspect they may be able to find something in the wine cellar at Alex and Alicia’s house. They sneak into the cellar during a party and hope to find out something before anyone discovers them. Meanwhile, the supply of champagne upstairs is getting low setting up a suspenseful situation whether they will be caught in the cellar. Delvin looks through the shelves of wine bottles while Alicia stands guard. He knocks a bottle of Francois Penot 1934 Pommard (Côte de Beaune) off the shelf and it smashes on the floor. But instead of red wine splashing everywhere, some sort of metal ore is revealed from the broken glass.
Alicia: What happened?
Devlin: Look. Vintage sand.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Scene Setup: Uncle Willie just gave a party for the following day’s wedding of his niece, Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn), and her fiancé, George Kittredge. But Tracy and her new buddy, Macaulay Connor (James Stewart) are still in the partying mood, so they go back to her parents’ house for more dancing and drinks.
Macaulay Connor: Champagne’s funny stuff. I’m used to whiskey. Whiskey’s a slap on the back and champagne’s heavy mist before my eyes.
Casablanca (1942)
Scene Setup: The Germans are about to invade Paris. Rick (Humphrey Bogart), Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and Sam (Dooley Wilson) are hanging out at La Bella Aurore café drinking a bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge champagne. Sam plays As Time Goes By. Ilsa is clearly preoccupied about the arrival of the Germans, Rick’s subsequent safety due to his prior opposition activities, and something else that she reveals to Rick later in the movie. . . . Rick remains relaxed despite all that is going on.
Rick: Henri wants us to finish this bottle and then three more so that he can water his garden with champagne before he let’s the Germans drink it.
Sam: This ought to take the sting out of being occupied, doesn’t it Mr. Richard?
Rick: You said it. (Turns to Ilsa.) Here’s looking at you, kid.
The Four Musketeers (1975)
(
This is actually the second half of the classic story of The Three Musketeers, but the producers pulled a fast one by paying the cast and crew for one movie but releasing this sequel one year after the release of The Three Musketeers.)
Scene Setup: d’Artagnan (Michael York) arrives at a military outpost (i.e., the Catholic King Louis XIII was fighting the War of Religions against the protestants, the Huguenots) and receives a parcel of Anjou rosé wine and a letter that says it is from his friends Athos (Oliver Reed), Porthos (Frank Finley) and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) and that they have been put in jail for drunkenness and rowdiness at an inn. He decides to go bail them out so that they can drink the wine together. Along the way, d’Artagnan is ambushed by the sinister Count de Rochefort (Christopher Lee) and his henchmen. Athos, Portos and Aramis, who apparently were already released from jail, come to his recue. Rochefort narrowly escapes. The four return to the outpost to interrogate one of the injured henchman. As Athos roughs up the henchman, d’Artagnan’s servant pours the wine. Just before any of them takes a sip, Aramis knocks it out of Porthos’ hand.
Porthos: What? Are you mad?
Aramis: Look! (They see henchman, who grabbed a glass of the wine, die from the poisoned wine. Aramis smells the wine.) I always had my doubts about the Anjou ’22 (i.e., 1622).
Athos: Where did this wine come from?
d’Artagnan: Why, you sent it. It came today with a note from the landlord at your inn.
Athos: We sent you no wine, boy.
Aramis: But we can guess who did. An ambush on the road? Poisoned wine? It seems to me that Milady is … persistent.
Porthos: By God! The sooner we get safe under fire at La Rochelle the better.
French Kiss (1995)
Scene Setup: Kate (Meg Ryan) is in France trying to win back her former fiancé who ran off with a French girl. Kate is reluctantly traveling with Luc (Kevin Kline with a French accent) who returns to France in the hope of realizing his dream of owning a vineyard, but he becomes dejected because the means he planned to use to buy a vineyard is lost. They end up in Luc’s hometown and they have dinner at his house with his family. As Kate becomes less contempt and more intrigued with Luc, she asks him to show her his room where he grew up.
Kate: What’s this? (pointing to a wooden box filled with small glass viles containing various aromas)
Luc: Uh, it is a project I did a long time ago in school.
Kate: What is it?
Luc: All right, I will tell you, but um …first you must take some wine.
Kate tastes the wine.
Luc: Can you, uh, describe it, the taste?
Kate: It’s a nice red wine.
Luc: I think you can do better.
Kate: A bold wine with a hint of sophistication and lacking in pretension…. Actually, I was just talking about myself. I — I don’t know . . .
Luc: No, no. You are not wrong. Wine is like people. The vine takes all the influences in life all around it. It absorbs them, and it, uh, gets its, uh, personality. Here… (He takes a vile from the box.) Smell.
Kate: Rosemary.
Luc nods and picks another vile.
Kate: Some kind of mushroom?
Luc: Very good. Currant, cassis, mint, lavender – they’re all in the ground here and in the air. Now, taste the wine again. (She tastes the wine.) Close your eyes.
Kate: Hmm. The currant – I can taste that right away, and, uh, from the brown bottle, lavender? (Luc nods.) Incredible. And you made this box?
Luc: Uh, oui.
Kate: Incredible. (She kisses him on the cheek.) Thanks. (Then she walks out of the room. Luc closes the box.)
Dr. No (1962)
Scene Setup: Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) hosts James Bond (Sean Connery) and Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) to dinner at his subterranean lair and explains his evil plans. As the discussion becomes more intense, both Dr. No and Bond want Honey out of the room. Bond, however, tries to defend Honey when Dr. No insinuates that the guards will molest her. Bond grabs a champagne bottle to use as a weapon, but realizes that he doesn’t have a chance to overpower the armed guards. Dr. No suggests that he sit back down.
Dr.: That’s a Dom Perignon ’55. It would be a pity to break it.
Bond: I prefer the ’53 myself.
Goldfinger (1964)
Scene Setup: James Bond (Sean Connery) and M (Bernard Lee) are having a black tie dinner meeting with Colonel Smithers (Richard Vernon) of the Bank of England to discuss the problem of Auric Goldfinger’s gold smuggling activities. At the end of the dinner Colonel Smithers offers a digestif.
Colonel Smithers: Have a little more of this … rather disappointing brandy.
M: What’s the matter with it?
Bond: I’d say it was a 30-year old Fine indifferently blended, sir . . . with an overdose of Bons Bois.
M: Colonel Smithers is giving the lecture, 007.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Scene Setup: James Bond (Sean Connery) and M (Bernard Lee) meet with Sir Donald Munger (Laurence Naismith) of the Prime Minister’s staff to discuss a diamond smuggling problem.
M: Good Morning, Sir Donald. This is Commander Bond.
Sir Donald: How do you do, Commander Bond. Please sit down. Sherry?
M: Not for me, thanks. Doctor’s orders.
Sir Donald: Commander Bond?
Bond: Yes, thank you.
Sir Donald: You’ve been on holiday, I understand. Relaxing, I hope.
Bond: Oh, hardly relaxing but … most satisfying. Cheers. Pity about your liver, sir. It’s an unusually fine Solera. . . . ’51, I believe.
M: There is no year for sherry, 007.
Bond: I was referring to the original vintage on which the sherry is based – 1851. Unmistakable.
Sir Donald: Precisely.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Scene Setup: James Bond (Sean Connery) and Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) take an ocean liner from the U.S. to London after the caper is solved. As they are relaxing in their luxury room, an unexpected gourmet dinner is brought to their room by two of the bad guys, Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) and Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover), posing as kitchen staff. Bond suspects something suspicious about this supposedly complimentary dinner so he cleverly catches them making a mistake in their charade as the wine is served.
Mr. Wint: Wine, sir? Mouton Rothschild ’55. A happy selection, if I may say.
Bond: I’ll be the judge of that. That’s rather potent. Not the cork – your aftershave. Strong enough to bury anything. But the wine is quite excellent. Although, for such a grand meal, I had rather expected a claret.
Mr. Wint: Of course. Unfortunately, our cellar is rather poorly stocked with clarets.
Bond: Mouton Rothschild is a claret. And I’ve smelt that aftershave before. And both times I smelt a rat.
And finally, the classic British romp:
Tom Jones (1963)
Scene Setup: In the estate’s den, our incorrigible hero, Tom Jones (Albert Finney) sings and drowns himself in drink in celebration of the recovery of the health of his benefactor, Squire Allworthy. Such news caused great disappointment to Tom’s dour tutors, Square (John Moffatt) and Thwackum (Peter Bull), his rival, the pious Blifil (David Warner), and Blifil’s steward, Lawyer Dowling (Redmond Phillip). These four were to benefit at the death of Allworthy.
Narrator: It is not true that drink changes a man’s character. It can reveal it more clearly. The squire’s recovery brought joy to Tom to his tutors’ sheer disappointment.
Tom: ♪Sing, thick Thwackum, your bounty’s flown.♫
Thwackum: You have good reason for your drunkenness, you beggarly bastard! He’s provided well enough for you!
Tom: Do you think that any such consideration could weigh with me? Damn you, Thwackum!
Thwackum: How dare you, sir!
Tom: And damn me for opening another bottle. (He laughs and loses his balance.) I shall sing you a ballad in which I’ve entitled Sing Thick Thwackum, Thy Bounty’s Flown. ♪Sing thick Thwackum, your bounty’s flown. You’ve lost all the money you thought that you’d own….♫
Blifil: Mr. Jones! This house is in mourning on account of the death of my dear mother.
Tom: Oh, sir, forgive me. The joy of Mr. Allworthy’s recovery . . . .
Blifil: I had the misfortune to know who my parents were. Consequently, I am grieved by their loss.
Tom: You rascal. You dare to insult me? (Tom grabs Blifil.)
Lawyer Dowling: Gentlemen! Gentlemen! This behavior is most unseemly.
Tom slaps Blifil. Blifil slaps Tom. Tom then pushes Blifil over a table.
Dowling: Oh, Master Blifil!
Tom laughs.
Thwackum: Oh, that vulgar animal! Out with him!
Tom: All right! We’ll go outside! Let’s have some wine!
Thwackum: Get him out! Get him out!
Thwackum, Blifil and Square throw Tom out of the house with his wine bottle.
Tom: How dare you throw me out!
Tom wanders off drunkenly into the night.
Narrator: It is widely held that too much wine will dull a man’s desires. Indeed it will – in a dull man.
As he continues to drink, Tom thinks of his love, Sophie Western.
Tom: Sophia … Sophia … I’ll carve her name on this tree! (He pulls out a pocket knife.) Tree, do you mind if I carve the name of my desire? Big S for Sophie … Sophia … Sophia, Sophia, Sophia … (The disreputable Molly Seagrim (Dianne Cilento) who has occasional liaisons with Tom appears from around the tree.) … Sophie, Sophie, So … Molly, Molly, Molly, Molly, Molly, Molly. M for Molly.
Molly: Are you aimin’ to slit my throat, Squire?
Tom: Would you like … a sip of my wine?
Molly: Mm. I never had a sip of a gentlemen’s wine before. (She takes a big gulp and gags and laughs at the same time.) Oh, it’s very potent!
They both laugh. Tom starts to guffaw loudly and rolling on the ground.
Molly: Wha’ are you laughin’ at, Tom?
Tom: I’m thinking of Square in your bedroom! (Tom had previously caught Square having his own liaison with Molly.)
Tom and Molly start to get it on in the woods and roll down into a ditch.
Narrator: To those who find our hero’s behavior startling, the answer is simple: Tom had always thought that any woman was better than none, while Molly never felt that one man was quite as good as two.