I thought I’d already done a drinking and writing column, but I guess my memory is shot by the booze. The column I’d been thinking of ran in Matrix 76, Robert Allen’s memorial issue, but it was really more of a writers-in-movies column, though indeed, many of these involved drink. Alcoholism is an unfortunate occupational hazard when one is a writer. Or is it the other way around? Being a writer would certainly be an unfortunate occupation for a drunk. Ha ha! This romantic cliché is most famously embodied in Barfly, written by Charles Bukowski and directed by Barbet Schroeder.
Barton Fink, besides being one of my favourite films, is on this list for the character of W.P. Mayhew, based on William Faulkner, who Howard Hawks invited to Hollywood to write screenplays, and who believed that alcohol helped him to write.
From Hollywood, we move to Las Vegas, where people go to drink themselves to death, or at least Nick Cage (playing a screenwriter) does in Leaving Las Vegas. The more carnival-esque side to booze in Vegas (plus everything else you can imagine) is explored by Johnny Depp’s rendition of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but though it’s directed by Terry Gilliam, nothing captures crazy like the book.
Then there’s the old classic, The Lost Weekend, which follows an unsuccessful writer’s four day bender, tracing through flashback all the destruction wrought by the bottle.
The last of the writerly drunk movies on this list is Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker. Are writers the most prone to drink? Why aren’t there as many movies about alcoholic artists or accountants?
Well, for a change in pace, we have a couple of comedies next. The Big Lebowski, the second entry here from the Coen Brothers, features Jeff Bridges as The Dude, who drinks White Russians throughout. Some friends and I once had a Big Lebowski party where everyone had to drink a White Russian everytime The Dude did. A dangerous game! White Russians (kahlua, vodka and milk) go down eeeeeasy, then hit you in the head. We also had Cosmopolitans (vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice) while watching Sex and the City, and contemplated drinking straight vodka while watching North by Northwest. However, in that movie, James Stewart is forced to drink a whole bottle of booze by spies, who try to kill him by then letting him drive drunk. Maybe not the best drinking game movie!
James Stewart surfaces again in Harvey, where he plays an alcoholic who makes friends with a giant pink rabbit that only he can see. A screwball comedy!
Then there are the amazing, hilarious series of Drunken Master kung-fu flicks, starring Jackie Chan, whose character actually fights better while drunk. If you haven’t seen these classics, you gotta go check them out!
And finally, the last entry on the list is Cocktail. Cheesy Tom Cruise! “Flair” bartending action that spawned an 80s fad! The tagline: “When he pours, he reigns.”
The Matrix Movie Mythos List of Drinking Movies:
Barfly (1987) – Barbet Schroeder
Barton Fink (1991) – The Coen Brothers
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) –Mike Figgis
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) – Terry Gilliam
The Lost Weekend (1945) – Billy Wilder
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) – Alan Rudolph
The Big Lebowski (1998) – The Coen Brothers
Harvey (1950) – Henry Koster
Drunken Master (1978) – Woo-ping Yuen, and The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) – Chia-Liang Lu. Both starring Jackie Chan.
Cocktail (1988) – Roger Donaldson
