Fancy a Pint? The Top 14 Drinking Scenes in Movies

Humans have been imbibing alcoholic beverages since around 7,000 B.C. and some of our best writers, thinkers and artists have had plenty to say about its intoxicating effects over the many centuries since. To celebrate the bank holiday weekend and the start of Summer, let’s take a look at some of the finest drinking scenes in cinematic history.

“Hi Lloyd!” - The Shining (1980)

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is raging and ready to fall off the wagon after he is wrongfully accused of harming his son. Unfortunately for him, the bar in the Overlook Hotel’s opulent Gold Room is completely bare. “I’d give my goddamn soul for just a glass of beer,” he groans, covering his face with his hands.

Soul, you say? The Overlook is listening and ready to answer his call. When he opens his eyes again, the bar is fully stocked with gleaming bottles and there stands Lloyd (Joe Turkel), smart, welcoming, and ready to serve.

Stanley Kubrick’s film-making is immaculate throughout the movie and his sleight of hand here is perfect. When Jack first says “Hi Lloyd!” directly to the camera, we think he is just playing make-believe to help himself feel better, before Kubrick switches back to reveal a newly-materialised Lloyd. The scene is a delight, veering from lightly comical to deeply sinister as the ghostly bartender sets Jack up and listens to his problems. But Lloyd is an agent of the Overlook, and this is the moment when it gets its hooks into Jack. Not only does he lay his soul bare, he also ends up in the hotel’s debt when he realises that his wallet is empty.

The Bar Room Brawl - The World’s End (2013)

What do you do if you return to your hometown to discover it has been taken over by aliens? Keep drinking, naturally! Led by the irresponsible Gary King (Simon Pegg), his old friends reluctantly reason that the only way to avoid drawing attention to themselves is to carry on along the Golden Mile, an epic pub crawl they failed as teens.

It all kicks off in pub number nine, The Beehive, when they are swarmed by the blue-blooded “blanks.” Former tee-totaller Andy (Nick Frost), who dumped his oath against alcohol a few boozers earlier, goes ape. With a cry of “I f**king hate this town!” He tools up with a pair of stools and goes on the rampage, setting off a massive brawl as Gary doggedly tries to finish his pint.

Trumping the “Don’t Stop Me Now” zombie landlord-battering scene in Shaun of the Dead, this sequence shows why Edgar Wright is one of the most underrated action directors around. By now, we know the characters so well that we care about what is happening, and we can always tell who is where and what they’re doing, even with the rapid editing. And, of course, being a Wright film, he peppers the mayhem with inventive touches and little jokes along the way.

Rubber Biscuit - Mean Streets (1973)

Martin Scorsese already gave us one iconic bar scene in Mean Streets with Johnny Boy’s slow-motion entrance to the Stone’s “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” but this lesser-celebrated moment emphasises his mastery of the medium and really captures the feeling of getting absolutely trashed.

Later in the film, Charlie (Harvey Keitel) ends up getting wasted on shots and Scorsese puts us right inside his sense of inebriation by fixing a camera to the actor as he weaves drunkenly around the bar, throwing back more shots. The technique, dubbed SnorriCam after its innovators, dates back to the early 1930s, but this was one of its first uses in a mainstream American movie. It compliments the scene perfectly, as does the manic jabbering of the Chips’ “Rubber Biscuit.”

Lighter modern equipment would make the shot easier to achieve in later movies and TV shows, and one of my favourite examples is in the recurring segment “The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar” from the BBC sketch comedy That Mitchell and Webb Look.

“Show Me The Way To Go Home” - Jaws (1975)

What I love about Jaws is how it is basically two great movies rolled into one larger suspenseful masterpiece: The land-based horror as the beach community of Amity Island realise they have a killer shark on their hands, and an exhilarating buddy adventure as our heroes head out to sea to catch the beast.

It is during the second half that the brilliant dynamic between the three leads comes into sharp focus: The antagonism between salty sea dog Quint (Robert Shaw) and rich boy oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) while Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) plays referee in the middle.

For all the shocks and iconic set pieces, the brief down time getting drunk in the galley is one of the film’s highlights. Quint and Hooper find unexpected common ground comparing war wounds while Brody sheepishly considers throwing his appendectomy scar into the mix. The mood shifts when Hooper inquires about Quint’s removed tattoo – from his days in the Navy serving on the USS Indianapolis, setting the table for one of the most chilling and enthralling monologues ever committed to celluloid.

Spielberg could have left it at that, but he takes us back the other way again as the three men console themselves with a raucous rendition of “Show Me The Way To Go Home” before the shark decides to join the party. It’s masterful work from the director and his actors, and the terrific characters are what make me return to Jaws again and again.

4th of July - The Great Escape (1963)

It is American Independence Day in Stalag Luft III, and the largely British contingent are about to find out why the three Yanks in the camp have been scrumping all the potatoes they can lay their hands on. Behind closed doors, Hilts (Steve McQueen), Hendley (James Garner), and Goff (Jud Taylor) have been using the spuds to distil moonshine.

There is a lovely comic scene as the three sample their brew (“Wow!”) before the 4th of July celebrations where they share their powerful homemade liquor with the rest of the captives. Everyone is laughing and having a good time, but things are about to veer from jovial to tragic as Archie Ives (Angus Lennie) goes wire happy.

Tequila Slammers - Caddyshack (1980)

Playboy golfer Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) has a pretty laid back outlook on life, whether it’s neglecting to keep score on the links (“How do you measure yourself against other golfers?” “By height.”) or large sums of money lying around his apartment (“Oh, keep it, keep it.”)

He has a similarly irreverent attitude to getting drunk, as we see when he entertains Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan) the promiscuous niece of everybody’s nemesis Judge Smails (Ted Knight). In what is surely a nod to the movie’s notoriously coke-fuelled production, Webb snorts the salt, sucks the lemon wedge, and tosses the tequila over his shoulder. All together now: “I was born to love you, I was born to lick your face…”

Dorry’s Tavern - Gremlins (1984)

One of my favourite things about the Gremlins movies is how the chaotic evil creatures emerge from their gloopy cocoons fully up-to-date with pop references and all the latest fads. It’s like they are a manifestation of our collective cultural id, and that is what we see in the raucous bar scene in Joe Dante’s classic first instalment.

It’s absolute mayhem as a horde of the creatures take over Dorry’s Tavern and barmaid Kate (Phoebe Cates) bravely tries to placate them by keeping the beer and shots flowing. The creatures are having a high old time, cheating at poker, flashing their non-existent genitalia, playing video games, imitating Ray Charles, and, because it is the ‘80s, busting out some breakdance moves.

What sells the bonkers scene is the brilliant puppets designed by Chris Walas and Rick Baker. While nowadays CGI would probably be involved, the Gremlins are so obviously there in camera with Cates and feel totally real despite all their Looney Tunes antics.

Begbie’s Story - Trainspotting (1996)

Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is mainly known as a drug movie but there is plenty of booze involved too. One drinking scene in particular gives us a lucid insight into the mind of Frank Begbie (Robert Carlyle), the pocket-size psycho of the piece.

The gang are all drinking on the balcony of a packed pub and Begbie is regaling them with a tale about he beat up some “hard c**t” while playing pool a few days earlier. As a coup de grace, he polishes off his pint and tosses the glass over his shoulder into the crowd below.

Cue a classic Scorsese-esque freeze frame as we rewind to learn a very different version of events from straight-shooter Tommy (Kevin McKidd). Back to the pub and the glass shatters on a poor woman’s head, leaving her with blood in her eyes as Begbie wades into the action and provokes a massive fight. As our narrator Renton (Ewan McGregor) observes, Begbie doesn’t do drugs, he does people.

Honest John - Six of a Kind (1934)

W.C. Fields was one of Hollywood’s best-known hard drinkers and he had plenty to say on the subject of alcohol. He claimed he never drank water because “fish f*ck in it” and he worked his boozehound act into many of his movies, such as the classic tall tale in My Little Chickadee: “Once, on a trek through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew, and we were compelled to live on food and water for several days.”

Arguably his finest comic moment came in Leo McCarey’s Six of a Kind as Sheriff “Honest John” Hoxley when a visitor asks how he got his nickname. After downing a quart of whiskey, Hoxley proceeds with a lengthy anecdote as he prepares to break up the balls on the billiard table. It’s a story that could have lasted 20 seconds, but Fields expertly spins it out to around three minutes as he goes through his comedy pool act. This clip really should be on the Wikipedia page for Comic Timing!

The Drinking Contest - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Another entry from Steven Spielberg as we meet Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) for the first time. While her old college tutor and former lover Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) moonlights as a globe-trotting adventurer, Marion is mending her broken heart running a roughneck tavern in the snowy heights of Nepal.

We can tell straight away that she won’t be just a helpless sidekick: She’s trading shots of hard liquor with a towering mountain man in a rowdy drinking competition. She throws back a jolt and closes her eyes; it looks like it’s all over and the crowd starts paying off bets. But she’s not done yet and it’s back to her opponent. He confidently chugs an even larger shot as the onlookers cheer, but his eyes glaze over and he collapses to the floor. Ravenwood wins by knockout!

The scene does a great job of establishing Marion as a tough and resourceful woman who is in no mood to play damsel in distress. Indeed, she saves Indy’s bacon on numerous occasions and her capacity for strong alcohol foreshadows a later scene when she tries to get Belloq (Paul Freedman) pie-eyed so she can make an escape.

Flaming Rum Punch or Mulled Wine? - It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Things get pretty harrowing towards the end of Frank Capra’s Christmas classic but there is still room for one lighter moment. As George Bailey (James Stewart) returns to the bar he was drinking at earlier with his new pal Clarence (Henry Travers), it is a very different place. Rather than the cosy small town pub he knows, it is now a seedy gin joint – one of many changes in an alternate reality where he never existed.

Oblivious to his rowdy surroundings and three centuries out of time, the naive angel riles Nick the surly bartender by considering whether to order a flaming rum punch or mulled wine. Nick is in no mood for mixology, gruffly asserting that he sells “hard drinks for men who want to get drunk fast.”

George tries to defuse the situation but Nick is even less amused when he overhears Clarence’s talk of bells and angels receiving their wings. Nick snaps and has George and Clarence thrown out, mocking them by repeatedly ringing the cash register: “Get me! I’m giving out wings!” It’s a great comic scene that also neatly sets up the final joyous lines of the film.

Lighter Fluid - Withnail & I (1987)

You could compile a whole list of great drinking scenes from Bruce Robinson’s cult favourite, but this one stands out. Things are looking desperate for Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) – they’re out of alcohol, the pubs are shut, and it’s freezing in their grotty flat. Withnail is at the end of his tether, lathering himself with Deep Heat and pulling on the marigolds in a vain attempt to keep warm. Finally he erupts: “I must have some booze! I demand to have some booze!”

What comes next is comedy gold. Despite Marwood’s warnings, Withnail seizes a can of lighter fluid, rips off the lid with his teeth, and chugs the contents. Gasping, he’s ready to see the contents of his friend’s toolbox with an eye on his antifreeze, prompting the payoff line: “You bloody fool! You should never mix your drinks!” 

Robinson got the desired reaction from tee-totaller Grant by replacing the water used in rehearsals for strong white vinegar, resulting in his star’s genuinely shocked expression.

“I Bet They’re Asleep in New York” - Casablanca (1942)

Exiled saloon owner Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) was content sticking his neck out for nobody during WWII at his stylish Cafe Americain in Casablanca, surely the sexiest watering hole in all of cinema. But then wouldn’t you know it? In walks his old flame Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) with her hubby Viktor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), stirring up dormant emotions and luring Rick back into the fight against the Nazis.

He tries to play it cool, but after closing time his friend and piano player Sam (Dooley Wilson) finds Rick halfway to the bottom of a bottle of booze. “Of all the gin joints in all the world” is the more famous quote, but I love the exchange that precedes it:

“Sam, if it’s December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in New York?”

“Uh… my watch stopped.”

“I bet they’re asleep in New York. I bet they’re asleep all over America.”

It’s an odd question in such a famously brilliant screenplay, so perhaps the alcohol is skewing his logic. But there, sitting in the dark rocking his white tuxedo, Bogie never looked so world-weary and romantic.

“Worth Waiting For” - Ice Cold in Alex (1958)

Finally, my favourite movie drinking moment of all time. Captain Anson (John Mills) is one thirsty man and all that keeps him going as he and his men escort two nurses across the North African desert is the thought of an ice cold beer in his favourite bar in Alexandria, Egypt.

We really feel for the recovering alcoholic in J. Lee Thompson’s classic WWII adventure as Anson and his small crew navigate minefields and quicksand in an old ambulance, not to mention discovering there is a German spy in their midst.

The final bar scene is one of the greats. Taking a seat at the bar, Anson watches longingly as the bartender pours four glasses of Carlsberg. Equally appealing are the big melty eyes of Sylvia Sims as she gazes at him in admiration and pity, but he doesn’t notice. He’s all about the lager as he waits for the head to settle, tracing his finger through the condensation on the glass. He licks his parched lips and hesitates for a second longer, then it’s down in one, slamming the glass back on the counter: “Worth waiting for.”

It’s a line I often quote at the pub and Carlsberg once used the clip in an advert before moving into more elaborate “Probably the best…” TV spots. They needn’t have bothered replacing it; if ever there is a scene that makes you want to run down to the local bar and sink a couple of frosty Carlsbergs, this is it.

So there you have it, my favourite boozing scenes in cinematic history. There are many more worthy contenders – what would you add to the list? Let us know!