Hancock may go down in movie history as the world’s most memorable drunk. As an alcoholic superhero, he creates unfathomable destruction in his path. Still, Hollywood history is full of unforgettable alcoholics in movies, just check out our top 10:
10. Joan Allen: Upside of Anger
Terry Ann Wolfmeyer is a pretty mean drunk. With her husband gone missing, she just drowns her sorrows and tells everyone what she really thinks. Who says women can’t be just as belligerent as men?[PAGEBREAK]
9. Karen Allen: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Marion Ravenwood can hold her liquor with the worst of the tough-guy riff raff. We meet her winning a drinking contest with a gaggle of empty shot glasses on her side. It comes in handy when she has to drink her way out of Belloq’s evil clutches.[PAGEBREAK]
8. Robert Hays: Airplane
Ted Striker’s drinking problem is so serious, he can’t even get the liquid in his mouth! And don’t call him Shirley. This classic spoof of movie drunks has to earn a place on the list for sheer irreverence.[PAGEBREAK]
7. Walter Matthau: Bad News Bears
By the time Billy Bob Thornton played Morris Buttermaker in the remake, seeing a drunk influencing impressionable young kids was old hat. Back in the ’70s, it was outrageous. He even drinks and drives with a car full of kids without seatbelts![PAGEBREAK]
6. Val Kilmer: Tombstone
Alcohol doesn’t stop Doc Holliday from being an expert shot. As he says, even with double vision, he has two guns, “one for each of ya’.” Certainly the most functional drunk on the list, Kilmer’s Holliday is a memorable badass. [PAGEBREAK]
5. Billy Bob Thornton: Bad Santa
Just the site of a Santa Claus swigging from a flask and barfing in an alley is hilarious. He is relentless, too. The moment where the kid brings him straight orange juice and he doesn’t understand is a classic movie drunk moment. [PAGEBREAK]
4. Ray Milland: The Lost Weekend
For a 60 year-old movie, The Lost Weekend still holds up. Don Birman (Milland)’s endless quest for booze is no less poignant for the limits imposed by the Hays code. Despite vague references, it’s totally clear what’s going on and how destructive it is.[PAGEBREAK]
3. Dennis Hopper: Hoosiers
Perhaps the most inspirational drunk on the list, Hopper played Shooter, the town drunk. Coach Dale (Gene Hackman) tries to turn him straight so his son can be inspired. Despite a setback about two-thirds through the film, Shooter turns it around in a real triumph over adversity. [PAGEBREAK]
2. Dudley Moore: Arthur
Well, Alcoholics Anonymous would not approve of the portrayal of a severe alcoholic as a harmless, lovable scamp. But this isn’t the AA list, it’s the Hollywood.com list and Arthur is a classic. Arthur 2: On the Rocks, not so much. [PAGEBREAK]
1. Nicolas Cage: Leaving Las Vegas
There’s really no topping this one–or can even coming close. Ben Sanderson sets out to drink himself to death, and he does–agonizingly so, for both his lady love, played by Elisabeth Shue, and by the audience. Often, when an actor plays drunk, it’s just a sober guy being silly. Cage makes it feel like you are drunk just looking at him. Relentless beyond any other drinking binge, Nicolas Cage is the best drunk in movie history.
