SFCS: Rainier: A Beer Odyssey

USA | 2024 | 124 min. | Isaac Olsen

December 6, 2024

Crack open a cold one with the epic story of Rainier Beer and the world-famous 1970s advertising campaign—designed by a small, up-and-coming agency with everything to prove—that put the Seattle-based brewing company on the map.

Filmmakers/producers Isaac Olsen, Justin Peterson, and Robby Peterson are scheduled to be in attendance for an intro and post-film Q&A.

Members: Make sure to sign in to your SIFF account before selecting a showtime.

The word “iconic” is greatly overused, but Rainier Beer’s red-script “R” logo is just that—for decades a symbol of Seattle second, perhaps, only to the Space Needle itself. Rainier: A Beer Odyssey explores, exhaustively, how that happened. Short version: It was the dozens of witty, zany TV ads that have never left the memories of anyone who lived in Seattle from the World’s Fair through the Reagan era, dreamed up by a troupe of infinitely inventive (m)ad men and women led by Terry Heckler and Gordon Bowker. (Several of these merry pranksters were alumni of Seattle magazine, and that chapter of local journalistic history gets an affectionate sidebar.) Parody was a favorite strategy, using celeb impersonators from Carson to Rambo and sending up films from Jaws to Amadeus, plus plenty of the time’s pop songs. Mickey Rooney, of all people, got a late-career boost when the ad-makers found by accident he was available. Then in 1987 Rainier was bought by Aussie Alan Bond, the Rupert Murdoch of brewing; he instantly fired Heckler Bowker and Rainier sales plummeted in about as long as it took you to read this sentence. Funny how that happens. Since the ad crew was so young, several are still around, eager talking heads for director Isaac Olsen amid the wealth of vintage old-Seattle clips he’s amassed.

—Gavin Borchert

Director: Isaac Olsen
Principal Cast: Mickey Rooney, Terry Heckler, Gordon Bowker, Ed Leimbacher, Kathy Cain
Premiere Status: World
Country: USA
Year: 2024
Running Time: 124 min.
Producer: Justin Peterson, Robby Peterson, Kurt Stream
Cinematographers: Nathan Blanchard, Karl Allsop, Matt Rome
Editors: Isaac Olsen
Website: Official Film Website
Filmography: Walk Don’t Run: The Story of The Ventures (2022), Semi-Iconic: The Ballad of Dick Rossetti (2017), Strictly Sacred: The Story of Girl Trouble (2014), Ich Hunger (2013), Quiet Shoes (2010)
Language: English