Nebraska: Almost Classic Meatloaf Recipe đ„đ„đ„đ„
/Year Released: 2013
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach
(R, 110 min.)
Genre: Drama, Dark Comedy
"And nothing to look backward to with pride,
And nothing to look forward to with hopeâŠâ Robert Frost
We donât want to care about him, but we do. This old, taciturn curmudgeon who vows to get to Lincoln, Nebraska, to pick up his million dollar promised âprize,â even if he has to walk there all the way from Billings, Montana.
We are all in the con, the scam that puts Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) among the countless gullibles buying their way to promised riches with âjust one more magazine subscription. â So is his family, especially his irreverent wife, Kate (June Squibb), who voices her disapproval early on in no uncertain terms: "I never knew the son of a bitch even wanted to be a millionaire! He should have thought about that years ago and worked for it!"
Ms. Squibb has been nomiated for an Oscar for her part as his shrewish wife. Several critics praise her
...jolt of tart comic energy â a dash of vinegar in the mashed potatoes. Kateâs blunt honesty is in many ways the key to âNebraska,â balancing both Woodyâs sad illusions and the smiling duplicity of almost everybody else. (A. O Scott)
The 84-year-old actress (Iâm sticking with that term with its feminine ending in spite of the latest push to call both sexes âactorsâ) has Midwest roots and says she recognizes her mother in the part of Kate.
To this critic, however, her vulgar tongue follows Hollywoodâs penchant for celebrated foul-mouthed elders such as Betty White in The Proposal, which is mild compared to the heroine-addicted-sexual predator-porn-loving-pervert of a grandpa Alan Arkin scored an Oscar for in 2006âs Little Miss Sunshine.
Hollywood, expert in deconstruction, seems to find crude comedy the best chaser for darker themes. So, donât expect to find any sweet sentimentality here. In fact, Nebraska tries so hard to avoid sentiment, it almost errs in the opposite direction, creating some rather cardboard villains in Woodyâs fictitious hometown of âHawthorne.â
The austere high plains come across as an almost claustrophobic vastness, captured so well in the muted tones of black and white film. And when director Alexander Payne is courageous enough to lift his comic mask to show us true inner despair or hidden tenderness, we are reminded of classics like John Steinbeckâs The Grapes of Wrath that featured a young Henry Fonda almost unrecognizable except for that flat voice that projected emotions while denying them.
In Woodyâs futile quest for his prize we echo Death of a Salesman's Willy Loman, longing for a past that lived up to his self illusions. The producers of these classics trusted the public to face despair head on, without a sugar coating of comic clichĂ©s. It seems todayâs donât think the American public is up for a sober dose of reality, and sadly, they may be right.
However, Bruce Dern, in the lead role, brings the same sort of dignity to his misanthrope as Clint Eastwood did to Walter Kowalski in Gran Torino. With Dernâs wobbly gate, aptly described as a 2 year oldâs âdrunkenâ stagger, we are also reminded of Michael Caineâs reluctant vigilante Harry Brown in that 2010 epic with the wheezy 80-year-old trying to catch the bad guys as well as his ragged breath.
Woody cannot wield a gun with the expertise of either of these, but his one-minded determination to collect his fortune is a weapon of a sort, one that ultimately persuades his son to go with his estranged father on this final road trip. And there is a stubborn integrity about Woodyâs belief that says perhaps too much about our current culture.
Reciptionist: Does he have Alzheimer's?
David Grant: No, he just believes what people tell him.
Receptionist: That's too bad.
âKathy Borich
Trailer
Film-Loving Foodie
Our recipe choice comes with some background information that may have you, along with Different Drummer, rooting for 77 year-old Bruce Dern to take home the Oscar this year. At first glance, Woody and Dern seem complete opposites. Woody, the alcoholic who, like Robert Frostâs character in "Death of the Hired Hand, has ânothing to look backward to with pride, nothing to look forward to with hope,â seems miles apart from Dern, the actor who really had almost regal roots.
Woody is confused, alcoholic, and so taciturn he is practically mute. In these ways, he is the exact opposite of Mr. Dern, who has never touched alcohol, shuns caffeine and is always in the middle of some dizzyingly digressive story.
Mr. Dernâs great-uncle was the poet Archibald MacLeish, whom he quotes liberally. His godparents were Adlai Stevenson and Eleanor Roosevelt. At the dinner table, he was required to wear white gloves, follow the rules and defer to guests like Uncle Archie and Thurgood Marshall. (Logan Hill)
Yet, the young Dern was overlooked and ignored by his accomplished family. He even had to raise his white-gloved hand to speak at the table.
Like Woody, Dern also could be relentless and stubborn to attain his goal. The actor who early on â⊠found himself typecast after a few successful turns as a nut jobâ is now the star in the role of a lifetime. But he got that role only after 8 years of selling the idea to Alexander Payne, the director.
Dern also describes his character Woody as âa return to the pent-up, inarticulate impotence he felt as a child.â
That impotence is reflected in the film in a scene at a Nebraska cafĂ© where Woody wants the meatloaf for dinner, but finds itâs only on the lunch menu. Kate orders for him, insisting on the grilled rather than the fried chicken, which is Woodyâs preference.
Letâs give Woody his original wish and cheer on Bruce Dern, the poor little rich boy who shares qualities beneath the surface with his screen creation.
Here is a great recipe for Almost Classic Meatloaf we originally shared back in 2005. Itâs time to revisit that classic. Our recipe comes from Ilona of Boise, Idaho, Woodyâs High Plains neighbor, one might say.
Almost Classic Meatloaf
Ingredients
âȘ 2 cups shredded hash brown potatoes
âȘ 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
âȘ 1 cup chopped onion
âȘ 1/2 cup ketchup
âȘ 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
âȘ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
âȘ 1/2 teaspoon salt
âȘ 2 large eggs, beaten
âȘ 2 cloves garlic, minced
âȘ 2 pounds lean ground beef
âȘ Cooking spray
âȘ 1/3 cup ketchup
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine potatoes, bread crumbs, onion, ketchup, mustard, oregano, salt, eggs and garlic in a large bowl and stir mixture well. Crumble ground beef over potato mixture and stir just until blended. Shape mixture into an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf. Place loaf in an 11-by-7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Spread 1/3 cup ketchup over top of loaf. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the loaf registers 160 degrees. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.