Hollywood drains more money from drink

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 21

Hollywood drains more money from drink

By

RONALD CLARKE

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles Hollywood is finding there is still money to be made out of drink. Dudley Moore is back as the befuddled multi-millionaire Arthur, ferrying his martinis on a model electric train, in “Arthur 2 — On the Rocks.” Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown, as bartenders, pour out a neverending supply of drinks to rowdy customers in “Cocktail.” The film has earned in excess of SUS 39 million at United States box offices. On the other side of the picture, Michael Keaton plays a young professional recovering not only from alcohol but also

from cocaine addiction in “Clean and Sober.” The British actor, Bob Hoskins, plays a drunken private investigator in another big hit, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” which has taken more than SUSII3 million at American box offices. The money is still rolling in. Jack Nicholson and his co-star, Meryl Streep, were nominated for Oscars this year for their roles in “Ironweed,” with Nicholson playing an alcoholic former baseball player. The film is bringing in money on the video cassette market after making the rounds of cinemas. Also making the rounds is “Barfly,” in which Mickey Rourke portrays a drunken poet. Hollywood hits on subjects it is

convinced will become box office hits, but it eventually comes back for another look at drinking. The most recent hot screen topic was babies. Among others, Diane Keaton played a businesswoman landed with a relative’s baby in "Baby Boom.” Tom Selleck and his room-mates found themselves caring for a baby in “Three Men and a Baby.” Before that, there was the Vietnam boom. The film “Platoon,” which won an Oscar last year for best picture, was followed by films such as “Full Metal Jacket” and “Good Morning, Vietnam,” in which Robin Williams played a maniacal radio disc jockey. On social issues, filmmakers

cut down on lovemaking to point up the lesson of A.I.D.S. In “Living Daylights,” the latest James Bond film, the Welsh actor, Timothy Dalton, confined himself to one girlfriend, played by actress Maryam d’Abo, instead of the usual Bond assembly line. The actor, Tom Hanks, refused to take a lady to bed in "Dragnet” when he discovered a box of condoms was empty. But drink goes on. In the “Thin Man” series of the 1930 s and 19405, now back in circulation on video cassette, William Powell, playing the debonair private dectective, Nick Charles, hardly found time to put down his glass between mysteries. Ray Milland won an Oscar in

1945 for portraying a failed novelist driven almost to suicide by his lust for drink in “The Lost Week-end,” one of the first serious looks Hollywood took at the drinking problem. The drinking of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was presented as part of the charm of that film in 1961 and, the following year, Hollywood took another hard look at alcohol abuse in "The Days of Wine and Roses.” In the film, Jack Lemmon played a hard-drinking public relations executive s who induced his wife, played by Lee Remick, to follow suit. Dean Martin has made a career out of portraying a drunk on stage and in films such as “Rio Bravo” and “Who Was That

Greta Garbo is remembered partly for her drunken scene in “Ninotchka.” Katharine Hepburn had drunken scenes in “The Philadelphia Story” and “State of the Union,” Leslie Caron in “Father Goose” and Bette Davis in “Dark Victory.” Lee Marvin not only played a drunken cowboy in “Cat Ballou,” his horse was also drunk.

In the days of strong penalties against driving under the influence and the prominence of groups such as “Mothers Against Drunk Driving,” Hollywood keeps a wary eye on drink scenes.

Drinking may stop people driving, but apparently it does not drive them away from films.