To celebrate the close of the inaugural Before I Die ABQ Festival, come to Rio Bravo Brewery at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25 for a movie and a beer. And you get to vote for which fun funeral film we watch! The event is free, and you buy your own beer. They’ve also got great food you can order there, too. Rio Bravo Brewery is located at 1912 2^nd Street NW, Albuquerque. We’ll be in the upstairs Barrel Room.

So which film would you prefer to see? These are all comedic movies that have funerals as a central theme. Vote your preference in the comments section below or at the Facebook Page for A Good Goodbye!

The Loved One (1965)

Liberace as a casket salesman in The Loved One

The Loved One satirizes the funeral business, including pet funerals, as well as the movie industry and the military-industrial complex. It debuted in 1965, two years after Jessica Mitford’s exposé book The American Way of Death rocked the funeral industry. Despite its black-and-white vintage, The Loved One shows funeral trends that have continued to this day. Liberace plays a casket salesman, and it’s the only film where he doesn’t play the piano.

Get Low (2009)

Based on a true story, Get Low offers vital lessons on funeral planning BEFORE there’s a death in the family. Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) is a gruff Tennessee hermit. After he hears a contemporary has died, he decides he needs to get his affairs in order and wants to arrange a funeral party so he can hear what people have to say about him while he’s alive. He recruits local funeral director Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) to make this funeral party happen.

Bernie (2012)

Bernie is a comedy based on a true story of a much-beloved funeral director who takes up with a much-hated wealthy widow in the small east Texas town of Carthage. She becomes possessive to the point where he loses his sweet nature, kills her, then goes to great lengths to create the illusion that she’s still alive. Assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede is played by Jack Black and Shirley McLaine portrays wealthy widow Marjorie Nugent. 

Elizabethtown (2005)

This light romantic comedy provides insights into the clash of traditionalists who want to bury their dead and those who think cremation is the way to go. Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dundst meet up when he flies from Oregon to his father’s hometown of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to meet long-lost kin and make funeral arrangements. This being a comedy, all family conflict is forgiven by the end. It has a great soundtrack that ranges all over. Songs include The Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next to You,” Tom Petty’s “I’m Learning to Fly,” Elton John ‘s “My Father’s Gun,” Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times” (1854) and Henry Mancini’s “Moon River.”

So, which of these four films would you like to see? You can also register your vote in the comment box for all festival event registrations, through this link.

Remember, attendees at all Before I Die ABQ Festival events can enter drawings for a free cremation from The Neptune Society of Albuquerque and a cedar “coff-urn” from The Old Pine Box.

The Before I Die ABQ Festival is made possible by these sponsors:

• A Good Goodbye, funeral planning for those who don’t plan to die;
• French Funerals & Cremations, Albuquerque’s largest and oldest family-owned funeral service company;
• The Neptune Society, America’s most trusted cremation service;
• Lasting Legacy, Inc., providing estate and trust services to New Mexico families;
• Express Legal Solutions, LLC, offering “documents you need at a price you can afford;”
• Retirement Extender®, a team of specialists making the most of your finances;
• Morris Hall, PLLC, a premier estate planning law firm;
• LifeIZShort.com, practical guides for dealing with the inevitable by Peter Callan;
• The Old Pine Box, specializing in pine and cedar coffins and caskets, and specialty urns;
• My Final Checklist, a master file for personal information; and
• Zia Trust, Inc., serving clients in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and 38 other states.
• 1-800-AUTOPSY, a thanatology specialty service company.