Attack of the Green Slime's Pick Shelf #4

100 proof Green Slime!!! This time the Pick Shelf is

movies featuring lovable drunks.

Let's get wasted!

The lovable drunk. There used to be plenty of lovable drunks in pop-culture. You had your Otis Campbell, Mayberry's lovable drunk from "The Andy Griffith Show". Dean Martin was a super cool drunk. Comedian Foster Brooks made alcoholism his trademark. Red Skelton had his Willy Lump Lump character.

And of course, NORM!, who somehow never got drunk.

I thought it a good idea to do a pick shelf with my favorite movies featuring lovable drunks. And of course, honorable mention goes to "Arthur" and Walter Matthau in "Bad News Bears".

So I present: loveable drunks!!!

*Hiccup*

The Bank Dick (1940- D:Edward F. Cline)

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. W.C. Fields is absolutely wonderful, and this is certainly one of his best films. His drunkenness was certainly lovable, but he was a bit of a jerk. But you'd be a jerk to with a family like his!  Egbert Souse, the accent is on the -e, is an unemployed husband that prefers to spend his time smoking and drinking at the local bar, The Black Pussy Cat Inn, than at home where is mother-in-law constantly berates him for his sloth. He lives with four women, his wife, mother-in-law, and two daughters. Enough to make any man drink! But he's only understood by his eldest daughter, Myrtle. Anyway, while drunk on a bench, he accidently catches a bank robber. He then lies his way into a job at the bank. 

I HIGHLY suggest this film. and when you watch it, keep your eye open for Shemp Howard. The stooge plays Egbert's bartender.

This movie was all written and done under Field's supervision and a it's a masterpiece.

The Adventures of Bob & Doug Mckenzie: Strange Brew (1983- D:Rick Moranis,Dave Thomas)

Is this not one of the sweetest movies ever? People always ask me, "what's your favorite movie?" Well, that question has to be made clear. There are two kinds of ways I would qualify a favorite. First are the movies that moved me so much that I would consider them favorites. These movies aren't the kind you'd watch over and over. Those make an impression on you. The second type are the kind that make you happy and you could watch over and over. This would fall into the second type.

Based on the scetch: "The Great White North" from the seminal "SCTV", this movie delvs farther into the lives and times of the Mckenzie brothers. We have these two to thank for all the Canadian humor that came after. Kids in the Hall, Trailer Park Boys, Fubar, etc. I don't mean humor from Canada, which has a deep comedy tradition, but the humor that spoofs Canadians.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this, what the hell are you waiting for?

It's a jelly.

Legend of The Drunken Master (1994- D: Chia-Liang Liu)

This is my favorite of Jackie Chan's movies. It's a super fun one. Even if you aren't crazy about kung fu/ Hong Kong films, you may still be able to enjoy this whirlwind of kung-fu fighting insanity.

What do you do when your father doesn't approve of your drunken boxing style? It's an age old question. And then you end up with a seal that belongs to some British smugglers and you're forced to get loaded and fight them to the embarassment of your whole family!!! Don't scoff, that shit happens sometimes.

Watching Jackie Chan act drunk and pull off amazing, fluid stunts is poetry in motion, I tell you what.

Hobson's Choice (1954-D:David Lean)

Earlier I mentioned how there were two types of favorite movies. This would have to be the 1st type, the kind that really moves you. The warm feeling it put in my belly has stuck with me ever since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson%27s_choice

So, the title of this movie is a pun. a choice that is really no choice at all. A "damned if you do, damned if you don't", sort of thing. The link above will explain it better than me.

Charles Laughton plays Henry Horatio Hobson, a typical successful late Victorian Era businessman. He has very Victorian ideals about social status and the like. He treats his labor not unlike a Dickens-esque buisnessman would. He's a widower that has lost his way, and taken to drink. He lives with his  three daughters, the oldest of which he declares too old to marry at age 30.

AGE 30, ladies!!

Anyway, Maggie, the eldest, takes it as a challenge and resolves herself to marry the lower class cobbler that works in the basement. It's a Cinderella story in reverse, and i guarantee it will warm the HECK out of your heart.

I can't suggest this one enough. David Lean is a superb flimmaker, and this is a superb film. And boy of boy, Charles Laughton is fabulous.