Why Booze Movies?

Throughout film history, alcohol has been at the forefront.

Silent movies used liquor to teach cautionary lessons and to generate belly laughs with drunken slapstick.

As sound entered the picture, bootleg booze fueled gangster films and champagne supplied the fizz for screwball comedies.

Soon rotgut swilling private eyes and whiskey swigging cowboys were the rage, followed by cocktail-sipping swingers and spies.

Finally, as Hollywood moved away from the studio system and the production code that governed it, antiheroes and subversive comedians tested the limits of drunken misconduct.

There are a lot of films to cover, so let’s get started… On second thought, I need a drink first.

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Introduction

Welcome fellow inebriates,

If you’re familiar with Modern Drunkard Magazine, you may have seen my article on “Soused Cinema,” featured in the January 2006 issue. Unfortunately, I was only able to skim the surface of the ocean of firewater-fueled films for that piece. This blog will allow me to dive deeper into the rich cocktail of film history and shine a light on the role alcohol has played in motion pictures from the silent era to the present day.

Predominately, this blog will consist of reviews of films in which liquor has played a major part. Each review will include a scorecard of drinks consumed, the resulting intoxicating effects, a booze-related quote, and other tipsy trivia. From time to time I’ll also provide news from the world of soused cinema, profiles of actors known for drunkenness onscreen or off, cocktail recipes transcribed from booze movies, and other related features.

It is not required that you imbibe to enjoy these films. However, I would never dissuade a person from such an endeavor.

Cheers,
garv

The Modern Drunkard (Paperback)

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