# Movies set primarily in bars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2019, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252 "2019-04-30T07:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/1 "2019-04-30T07:19:20Z")
– Barfly: Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway are what the title says. – Trees Lounge: Steve Buscemi hangs around the titular tin-ashtray joint. – Cocktail: Tom Cruise tends bar. – The Lost Weekend: Ray Milland is either at Nat’s Bar or drinking alone in his apartment. Any others? They can have scenes outside bars; all four of these do, of course. But I’m looking for movies where the main character working in or hanging around in a bar is what drives the story. (Not 54 or Last Days of Disco, or anything set in a **nightclub**. And not movies about alcoholics who do most of their drinking in a house or an alleyway. Just movies set in bars.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/2 "2019-04-30T08:34:35Z")
My favourite movie set in a bar is [The Drop](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1600196/reference). From a Dennis Lehane short story, _Animal Rescue_, it stars Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and was James Gandolfini’s final film. Considering that Lehane wrote _Mystic River_, _Gone Baby Gone_ and several episodes of _The Wire_ you can tell it isn’t _Cheers_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/3 "2019-04-30T08:38:58Z")
Coyote Ugly Roadhouse St. Elmo’s Fire Lost in Translation Does Rick’s Café Américain count? Rick seems to think so: " Of all the **gin joints** in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine" From Dusk Till Dawn - titty bars are still bars, no? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/4 "2019-04-30T08:46:28Z")
My Blueberry Nights ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/5 "2019-04-30T11:31:12Z")
It’s not most people’s idea of a “bar movie”, but all of the 1973 adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s **the Iceman Cometh** takes place in a bar. The film is just one minute shy of an astonishing four hours long. It had _two_ intermissions. > **[The Iceman Cometh (1973 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iceman_Cometh_(1973_film))** > > The Iceman Cometh is a 1973 American drama film directed by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay, written by Thomas Quinn Curtiss, is based on Eugene O'Neill's 1946 play of the same name. The film was produced by Ely Landau for the American Film Theatre, which from 1973 to 1975 presented thirteen film adaptations of noted plays. > The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but it wasn't entered into the main competition. > The film, 3 hours 59 minutes in length, had two intermissions.... ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/6 "2019-04-30T12:14:21Z")
St. Elmo’s Fire was set mostly in a bar? ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/7 "2019-04-30T13:09:45Z")
A pretty good chunk of **Goodfellas** takes place in various bars and private clubs. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/8 "2019-04-30T13:20:23Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > St. Elmo’s Fire was set mostly in a bar? A lot of it - it’s where Emilio Estevez’s character worked and the rest of them hung out, IIRC. Plus, you know, the movie title comes from the bar, which has to carry some weight… ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/9 "2019-04-30T13:49:57Z")
**Shaun of the Dead** ’s major plot revolves around getting to a pub, and the last third of the movie is set there. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/10 "2019-04-30T14:10:19Z")
Seems to me that a lot of **Ironweed** ’s scenes were in a bar, but it’s been a long time since I saw the film. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/11 "2019-04-30T15:10:08Z")
I wouldn’t say it was set primarily in a bar, but a lot of the time spent in **Sunshine on Leith** is in a Scottish Pub. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/12 "2019-04-30T15:16:05Z")
Honorable mention for [Running Scared](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091875/reference). About half the movie (IIRC) takes place in a bar and the lead cops want to own a bar when they retire. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/13 "2019-04-30T15:16:13Z")
**The World’s End** , Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s third movie in their “Cornetto Trilogy”\*, is set in a succession of bars, including the titular “World’s End”. Not as good as the other two in the series (_Shaun of the Dead_, mentioned above, and _Hot Fuzz_) > **[The World's End (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_End_(film))** > > The World's End is a 2013 science fiction comedy film directed by Edgar Wright from a screenplay by Wright and Simon Pegg. It is the third and final installment in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, after Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). It stars Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike, and Pierce Brosnan. In the film, five friends return to their hometown to reattempt a pub crawl they failed twenty-three years earlier, only to discover the... ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/14 "2019-04-30T15:23:53Z")
Does Urban Cowboy count? I don’t know if I’d call Gilley’s a nightclub. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Every Which Way But Loose, but doesn’t Clint Eastwood spend most of his time in bars doing bar fights? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/15 "2019-04-30T15:34:23Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Every Which Way But Loose, but doesn’t Clint Eastwood spend most of his time in bars doing bar fights? I rewatched EWWBL a couple of years ago. Yes, there’s a significant amount of time spent in bars and nightclubs, due to the fights, as well as Philo (Eastwood) pursuing a relationship with a country singer (played by Sondra Locke). But, if memory serves, the time in bars is still a minority of the total film. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/16 "2019-04-30T17:15:24Z")
[Harvey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(film)). It’s been a long time since I’ve watched it, but Wikipedia confirms my recollection that Elwood P. Dowd and his 6-foot invisible rabbit friend spend most of their time in a bar. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/17 "2019-04-30T17:57:09Z")
A lot of _Predestination_, a pretty good adaptation of Heinlein’s short story “All You Zombies,” takes places in a dingy bar as one character talks to another. Turns out they have _'way_ more in common than one of them realizes. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/18 "2019-04-30T18:28:33Z")
I would guess _Ironweed_, though I’ve never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/19 "2019-04-30T18:49:07Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > I would guess _Ironweed_, though I’ve never seen it. See post 10. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/20 "2019-04-30T19:00:24Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > My favourite movie set in a bar is [The Drop](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1600196/reference). > > From a Dennis Lehane short story, _Animal Rescue_, it stars Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and was James Gandolfini’s final film. Considering that Lehane wrote _Mystic River_, _Gone Baby Gone_ and several episodes of _The Wire_ you can tell it isn’t _Cheers_. I like that movie a lot. Another one I like is _Hi-Life_ – the one from 1998. It’s not a great movie, but I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252.md?page=2)