Daily Dialogue — December 29, 2015

“It’s terribly small, tiny little country. Rhode Island could beat the crap out of it in a war. THAT’S how small it is.”

— Arthur (1981), written by Steve Gordon

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Drunk.

Trivia: Dudley Moore was said to have based his performance partly on Peter Cook, whose excessive drinking had soured his and Moore’s comedic partnership in the ‘70s.

Dialogue on Dialogue: Attitudes toward alcoholism have evolved over the years, so it’s unclear how the 1981 version of the Arthur character plays as a contemporary figure. However he is a classic ‘sad drunk’ character, his comic antics an obvious desperate attempt to avoid dealing with his own psychological issues.