Lemonade Joe

Joe, a clean-shaven, lemonade-swigging, sharp-shooting cowboy, enters the Trigger Whisky Saloon in Arizona’s Stetson City and orders a Kolaloka lemonade . Before he even takes a sip, he defeats a gang of robbers, dispensing justice and converting the sinful townspeople to sobriety. Joe leaves the town just as the legendary master criminal of the Wild West, aka master-of-disguise Hogo Fogo arrives. Dressed in white and black, representing good and evil, they fight for the right to promote whisky or lemonade, and for the hand of the beautiful Winifred.

Directed by Oldřich Lipský and written by Jiří Brdečka, based on his novel and stage play, this is a formally innovative, technically playful film with a striking sepia-toned cartoonish aesthetic that blends quick-fire jokes, silent slapstick, and inspired music and songs from the swinging '60s, covering everything from ragtime to blues to cabaret. As in opera, emotions are expressed in song, with a mix of conscious affectation and naivety in both lyrics and dialogue. Supported by a splendid cast including Květa Fialová as the fallen barroom singer Tornado Lou, this is a fitting contribution to the Year of Czech Music celebrations.