50 Greatest Movie Drunks

Chevy Chase in Caddyshack (1980)

The Drunk: Ty Webb may snort salt and chuck tequila over his shoulder, but that doesn’t stop him getting properly pissed from time to time.

Tipple Of Choice: Hard liquor. It’s the only way.

Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger (2005)

The Drunk: Terry Ann Wolfmeyer turns to the drink when her husband unexpectedly leaves her. Men? They come and go. Alcohol’s the friend that keeps on giving.

Tipple Of Choice: Grey Goose by the bucketload.

Paul Giamatti in Sideways (2004)

The Drunk: Struggling writer Miles Raymond takes a week-long road trip through the Santa Barbara Wine County with his buddy Jack, and ends up drinking himself stupid. Yes, he even stupidly drinks the spit bucket. Ack.

Tipple Of Choice: Er, wine?

Jack Lemmon in Days Of Wine And Roses (1962)

The Drunk: Joe Clay, who has an insatiable appetite for alcohol. Which is what lands him in his father-in-law’s greenhouse desperately searching for more stuff to swill.

Tipple Of Choice: Wine, naturally.

Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Drunk: He’s been on the wagon for 10 days, but Don Birnam is about to fall spectacularly off it as he goes on a wild hunt for alcohol that sees him soaking up the bad stuff over a whole weekend.

Tipple Of Choice: Anything that comes in a bottle.

Mickey Rourke in Barfly (1987)

The Drunk: Henry Chinaski, whose love for a tipple is a pseudo-autobiographical exorcism for poet/author/screenwriter Charles Bukowski. Spends most of his time getting absolutely sozzled and scrapping.

Tipple Of Choice: Whiskey.

Walter Matthau in Bad News Bears (1976)

The Drunk: Ex-major league baseball player Morris Buttermaker, who’s recruited to help coach a team of terrible baseballers. Drinking is so everyday to him that he even drives with a car full of kids who aren’t wearing seatbelts. The scandal.

Tipple Of Choice:
Wine, naturally.

Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Drunk: The Dude, one of the coolest cats to ever grace the big (and small) screen. He's an unemployed LA slacker who spends his time bowling, smoking, dreaming and, yes, drinking.

Tipple Of Choice: White Russian.

Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean (2003-2011)

The Drunk: Swooning, effeminate pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, who doesn’t so much have alcohol in his bloodstream as the total opposite.

Tipple Of Choice: Rum of course. Yo ho ho.

Bette Davis in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

The Drunk: Crazy old Baby Jane Hudson, who sort of looks how the Wicked Witch would look if she wasn’t trapped in Oz. Cackling and conniving, Jane makes her disabled sister’s life a misery.

Tipple Of Choice: Shots. Quick and easy.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

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