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Anchorman (2004)
Jaws (1975)
The Drinking Scene: Brody (Roy Scheider), Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) share a few drinks aboard the Orca, then share their numerous scars with each other, along with a few colourful stories.
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: The booze is integral to these guys bonding. Without it, we doubt they'd have exchanged more than a few words with one another.
Office Space (1999)
The Drinking Scene: Peter (Ron Livingston) and his work buddies load up on beer, then boogy down in Peter’s living room, where Samir (Ajay Naidu) shows off some impressive break-dancing moves. Not so much with Peter’s shoulder bopping.
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: The trio would have danced anyway. Only far worse than they already do. And probably still get a hangover the next day.
Sideways (2004)
The Drinking Scene: Writer Miles (Paul Giamatti) only knows one way to comfort himself when his latest manuscript is rejected - by drowning his woes with the contents of a spittoon, which he glugs from in a fit of mania.
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: Trust us, Miles would have found booze anywhere - he was so desperate that he drank from a spittoon, for crying out loud.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Drinking Scene: The Dude (Jeff Bridges) has a drink at the bowling alley, where he's joined by Leonard (Sam Elliot), a wisdom-spouting cowboy with a voice like melted butter. "Sometime you eat the bar and sometimes, well, the bar eats you."
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: The Dude would have filled up on mixed nuts instead.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Drinking Scene: One of the most difficult-to-watch scenes ever filmed, not least because Martin Sheen actually drank himself near-blind in it.
As Francis Ford Coppola's film opens, Sheen's holed up in a hotel room drinking himself into a stupor. Before long, he destroys the whole room…
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: We imagine Sheen's character would have turned to harder stuff instead - that's how desperately miserable he is.
Lost In Translation (2003)
The Drinking Scene: Movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) pretends that Iced Tea is really the delicious whiskey that he's shooting an advert for in Tokyo.
"A ring-a-ding-ding," Bob jests with a straight face as the photographer makes a string of bizarre requests.
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: Bob would probably have been promoting a perfume instead. That's what most actors do these days, right?
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Drinking Scene: Pretty much the entire film is one giant drinking scene, but certain devastating moments stand out as bitter married couple George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) get more and more inebriated - in particular the moment when Martha brands George a "flop" and he smashes a bottle against the fireplace…
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: George and Martha would probably have kept their feelings all buttoned up. Which probably wouldn't have been a very healthy thing.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Drinking Scene: An inebriated Macaulay (James Stewart) visits C.K.Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). They go into the 'talking room', where Macaulay continues to drink (oh dear) and gets the hiccups, then demands to know if Dexter's still in love with Tracy (Katharine Hepburn).
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: It would've been difficult for Macaulay to get that drunk…
The Shining (1980)
The Drinking Scene: By this point, Jack (Jack Nicholson) is well and truly starting to lose his marbles, which is probably why he takes solace in a bar, which is suddenly full of life despite the fact that the Overlook Hotel is closed for business over the winter period.
"You set them up, and I'll knock 'em back, Lloyd."
If The Booze Hadn’t Been There: There's a lot going on in The Shining , but one of the main themes is alcoholism, which sort of needs the involvement of booze…
