Cocktail Service in the Thirteenth Floor April 24, 2020

Sometimes movies have an amazing way of bringing the whole "Riding high in April, shot down in May" idea in a couple of scenes, especially when it comes to bars and drinkers. Take the 1999 movie The Thirteenth Floor for example. 

 

 

Here you have Mr. Fuller. He's interacting within a simulated world of 1937 Los Angeles. Think of it as a MMORPG or VR game where you are uploaded to a world set in pre-World War Two Los Angeles. He's a member of a swanky private club and has his own table. The bartender knows it by heart "Gin Martini with one olive and likes them frigid ad an eskimo." And he doesn't even have to order his drink to get one. It comes to his table automatically moments after sitting down. Now that's service aka "Riding high in April."

 

 

Going forward a couple of scenes, Fuller is back in the "real world." He goes to a dive bar and orders his signature drink. He gets it in a shot glass, with no olives "since the bar is out of olives." Luckily for him the bartender was "generous" enough to offer him some pretzels. "Shot down in May 🤣."

 

 

I do have one small issue with the description of the drink by the bartender Ashton (Vincent D'Onofrio.) He says that Mr. Fuller drinks a Gin Martini. Now if you want to be a stickler, in 1937 there wouldn't be any other kinds of Martinis. Why? Well in the United States, Vodka wouldn't become a popular spirit for another decade and a half. I refer to the article Vodka Martini by Colleen Graham from the Spruce Eats website updated on April 22, 2020:

Originally called the kangaroo, the vodka martini was among the many cocktails that U.S. bartenders created when vodka first found a larger American market in the 1950s. Like many of the first vodka cocktails, it was simply a recreation of a gin cocktail using a vodka base. Vodka's growing popularity coincided with drinkers' changing tastes. The famous "three-martini lunch" was a little less noticeable with vodka than an aromatic gin. Drinks like the Moscow mule fueled vodka's surge and helped the martini rise to greatness. Today, you almost always have to distinguish whether you want gin or vodka in your martini.

And speaking of the Moscow Mule, I go into the history of that cocktail as it relates to Smirnoff Vodka in my post Ian Fleming's Dr. No (1962) from January 16, 2014. Click on the link to check it out. 

 

The Thirteenth Floor had the misfortune of being released a month after the Matrix which also dealt with the idea of living in a virtual world within a real world. That movie has proved to be very popular while the Thirteenth Floor has somewhat been relegated to cult status or just simply forgotten. If you can watch it, give it a go. It's interesting enough to watch while you're stuck in your "virtual" world waiting for the "real" world to start over again.

 

Until Then May You Have Some Happy, Safe and Responsible Drinking,
SiscoVanilla

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