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Photo courtesy Alice Smithson

Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures

Photo courtesy Prime Video

Our City Tonight

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 11:58 PDT, Fri April 25, 2025

Spring cocktail, a classic film, a new drama series from Australia

THE SIP – The Cricket Pitch

Spring cocktails are still on our minds as the weather gets warmer, so we turned to one of our cocktail experts, mixologist, Alice Smithson. Originally from England, we can always count on Alice to provide us with a delicious cocktail that takes its inspiration from her homeland (last year her cocktail for us was Wimbledon-inspired Strawberry Fields Forever). As Alice said back then, she likes to start her cocktail creations with the garnish and work backwards. For her latest offering, The Cricket Pitch, the garnish is 3 grinds of black pepper and 1 sage leaf. Other ingredients include 2oz pimms, 1.25 oz homemade ginger & vanilla syrup, 0.75oz fresh lemon juice, homemade ginger & vanilla syrup, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of boiling water, 1 cube of ginger, 5ml of vanilla extract blended and left to chill. “Being from England, the moment the sun pops it’s head out we get excited about drinking on a patch of grass,” she tells us as we sample this delicious cocktail. She goes on to say, “I have always loved a pimms cup but wanted to see what else I could use pimms in.” Our verdict: success—and the request for another. As with all the cocktails our experts suggest, this one is easy to make at home.

THE CLASSIC – 3 Days of the Condor

The political thriller, 3 Days of the Condor, came at a time when Americans were looking at government with clearer and more sobering eyes—the release of the Pentagon Papers, the end of the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and with it, President Nixon resignation in disgrace, had revealed a darker, more menacing side that had not been seen before. The 1975 release of this film could not have been better timed. The film follows Joe Turner (Robert Redford), an undercover CIA codebreaker, with the name “Condor”, who spends his days reading books, looking for anything subversive. He returns from lunch one day to discover all his office colleagues have been murdered. From there, Joe Turner runs, hides, kidnaps a woman (Faye Dunaway), and tries to determine whether his superiors want to keep him safe or have him killed. There is also a mysterious man with a foreign accent (Max von Sydow) who is trying to kill him. It’s a complicated maze from which Joe Turner must emerge and then stay one step ahead. Directed by the legendary Sydney Pollack, 3 Days of the Condor is a suspenseful masterpiece that is as timely today as it was 50 years ago.

THE VIEW – The Narrow Road to the Deep North

With the access to streaming bigger than it has ever been, various platforms are offering more and more great film and TV from all over the world. Just this year alone, we have recommended several TV series and film titles from the UK, Europe, and Japan. Now from Prime Video comes a new Australian drama called The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Based on the 2014 Booker Prize-winning novel by Richard Flanagan, this 5-part series unpacks the past and present life of Dorrigo Evans (played by Jacob Elordi as a young man, and the always superb Ciarán Hinds as the older Dorrigo). In the 1989-present, the older Evans is a well know surgeon and war hero still haunted by the memories of his affair with his uncle’s young wife as well as his days as WWII prisoner of war forced to work on the Burma Railway. Jumping back between periods of his youth—both joyous and horrific—and his older self—at times reckless both professionally and personally—this man’s life draws you in and keeps you watching until the end. primevideo.com