# Movie scenes in which the actor is actually intoxicated **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884 "2014-10-09T18:06:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/21 "2014-10-09T20:05:25Z")
_Platoon_. According to IMDB: > [@](#): > > Prior to the scene where Elias’ half of the platoon is smoking dope, the actors actually did smoke marijuana. Unfortunately for them, Willem Dafoe reported, by the time the stage was set and they actually filmed, everyone had come off their high and felt awful. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/22 "2014-10-09T20:12:03Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Deckard’s boss in “Blade Runner,” perhaps? It’s never stated that’s he’s drunk, but he sure seems like the drink-all-afternoon detective to me. And the actor actually seems drunk. M. Emmet Walsh. Compare that brief scene with his whole performance in _Blood Simple_… I’ll wait… and unless he was drunk for that whole movie, it’s just a character aspect. “Deah Jesus, you ah dis-gustin’!” - best line left out of the DVD recut. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/23 "2014-10-09T22:02:49Z")
I assume most of us know the story of the original Waco Kid being too drunk to be filmed. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/24 "2014-10-09T22:25:57Z")
I assume we’re taking the weed classics starring Cheech and Chong as a given? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/25 "2014-10-09T22:40:55Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It didn’t make the release, but Robert Shaw shot the first takes of the “four hundred men went into the water…” monologue in _Jaws_ so drunk he couldn’t speak the lines. His justification was realism; Spielberg’s response was “Let’s just act next time.” That is not how I heard it. Shaw felt they should be a bit tipsy during the scene. But he started drinking with crew before everyone else. He tried and failed to do the scene. Nothing was usable. The next morning he remembered nothing and went to Spielberg and asked what happened. When he found out he was very apologetic and went to film the scene on the spot. He filmed it with an epic hangover and with no other actors present for reactions. He also helped write the monologue. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/26 "2014-10-09T23:17:55Z")
I’ve heard that Bogart was drunk on his ass in a bar when he was called back to the set to shoot the famous “Play the Marsellaise!” scene in _ **Casablanca** _. All he had to do was nod, and it changed the whole tone of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/27 "2014-10-09T23:51:10Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > M. Emmet Walsh. Compare that brief scene with his whole performance in _Blood Simple_… I’ll wait… and unless he was drunk for that whole movie, it’s just a character aspect. Agreed. It’s called “acting”, and M.E. Walsh has long been a master of that art. Many years ago Roger Ebert explained his _Stanton-Walsh Rule_: “No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.” ETA: one of the very few times I’ve agreed with Mr. Ebert about anything. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/28 "2014-10-10T00:01:59Z")
Marlon Brando in _Apocalpyse Now_? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/29 "2014-10-10T00:02:11Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Oh I don’t believe so, no. :dubious: :smack: I actually thought…“wait…they didn’t mention this one in the OP, did they?” Oh. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/30 "2014-10-10T12:06:55Z")
Robert Towne, the director of _Personal Best_ claimed that to get Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly prepared for that girl-on-girl scene, he got them drunk in a hot tub. It worked! ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/31 "2014-10-10T16:31:31Z")
Lee Marvin, in _Paint Your Wagon_. His role was a perpetually drunken gambler/gold digger and it’s pretty well documented that he never drew a sober breath during the filming. Played the part really well though… ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/32 "2014-10-10T18:53:09Z")
In the scene where Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift play drunk sitting on the street, Clift actually was drunk, but Lancaster was not. (according to imdb) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/33 "2014-10-11T00:48:47Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > _Platoon_. According to IMDB: > > > [@](#): > > > > Prior to the scene where Elias’ half of the platoon is smoking dope, the actors actually did smoke marijuana. Unfortunately for them, Willem Dafoe reported, by the time the stage was set and they actually filmed, everyone had come off their high and felt awful. There’s a moral in that, somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/34 "2014-10-11T05:48:36Z")
I suspect that in a couple scenes of _Beat the Devil_ the director had been drinking that day and the cast was at least hung over. Jackie Gleason is said to have regularly drank scotch out of a coffee cup on camera. I can’t find a cite, but I’m sure I read or saw an interview with Janeane Garofalo where she said she hated one of the later scenes of _The Truth About Cats and Dogs_ so much that she drank to get ready for filming it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/35 "2014-10-11T14:40:34Z")
Maybe not drunk, but Ringo Starr was severely hung over when they shot the scene of him with the boy beside the river in **A Hard Day’s Night**. He got a lot of critical praise for the scene, and it probably jumpstarted his independent acting career. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884/36 "2014-10-11T15:16:12Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > I suspect that in a couple scenes of _Beat the Devil_ the director had been drinking that day and the cast was at least hung over. > > Jackie Gleason is said to have regularly drank scotch out of a coffee cup on camera. > > I can’t find a cite, but I’m sure I read or saw an interview with Janeane Garofalo where she said she hated one of the later scenes of _The Truth About Cats and Dogs_ so much that she drank to get ready for filming it. For live shows, the cast of _Cheers_ was snockered during their _Tonight Show_ appearance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-in-which-the-actor-is-actually-intoxicated/700884.md?page=1)