# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/21 "2019-04-30T20:09:18Z")
It’s an age since I last saw it, but in my memory quite a lot of **Withnail and I** takes place in bars or otherwise imbibing. However, I think the reason it merits a passing mention here is because so much time is spent on the pop that the film has developed it’s own [drinking game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withnail_and_I#Legacy). Watch out for the lighter fluid. To which I suppose I should add: _[I demand to have some booze!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MwOOY2qPlo)._ j ---
**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, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/22 "2019-04-30T20:32:36Z")
Good answers, all! – How could I have forgotten the Cornetto Trilogy! First time I saw **Hot Fuzz** , I thought Simon Pegg’s character was really asking for it. In villages like the one in that film, there are two institutions one does not mess with: the church and the pub. – **St. Elmo’s Fire** doesn’t quite work for my purposes; I get the impression those people would have been friends without the bar, or would have hung out somewhere else. \*\*Goodfellas \*\*doesn’t quite count either, because there were a lot of different bars/clubs, not one primary hangout. **Withnail and I** is more about drinking wherever and whenever, not necessarily in pubs. **Running Scared** – not quite. The final conflict doesn’t take place in a bar, for instance. – Good call on **The Iceman Cometh**. – **Coyote Ugly** , **Roadhouse** , **Urban Cowboy** and **Casablanca** are closer to what I’m looking for. Heck, **Urban Cowboy** had a wedding at Gilley’s! (That must have cost a chunk, in-universe.) – Haven’t seen any of the others, but I appreciate the suggestions! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/23 "2019-04-30T23:59:29Z")
To be fair, \*\*Goodfellas \*\*spent a decent chunk of time \*behind \*bars. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/24 "2019-05-01T00:08:11Z")
[Albino Alligator](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115495/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1) is set - I think - entirely in a bar. It’s a good movie but Kevin Spacey directed it so if you’re all boycotty, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/25 "2019-05-01T01:33:47Z")
**The Time of Your Life** (1948), starring James Cagney and based on the William Saroyan play, was set entirely in a San Francisco bar. > **[The Time of Your Life (film)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_of_Your_Life_(film))** > > The Time of Your Life is a 1948 American comedy drama film directed by H. C. Potter and starring James Cagney, William Bendix, Wayne Morris and Jeanne Cagney. A Cagney Production, The Time of Your Life was produced by Cagney's brother William and adapted by Nathaniel Curtis from the 1939 William Saroyan play of the same name. Cinematography was by James Wong Howe. > The film is set, with a few exceptions, entirely at Nick's 'Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace' in San Franci... ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/26 "2019-05-01T02:22:16Z")
Only part of the film takes place in the title establishment, but I recommend _The Blue Iguana_ (1988) anyway, just for being a nifty little neo-noir heist flick. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/27 "2019-05-02T09:39:01Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > – **St. Elmo’s Fire** doesn’t quite work for my purposes; I get the impression those people would have been friends without the bar, or would have hung out somewhere else. Well, yes - another bar! That’s what they do at the end, after all. They hung out at St Elmo’s because it was their college hangout, that was part of the point of the film, how they hadn’t really moved on. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/28 "2019-05-02T11:57:25Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Well, yes - another bar! That’s what they do at the end, after all. > > They hung out at St Elmo’s because it was their college hangout, that was part of the point of the film, how they hadn’t really moved on. I haven’t seen this since it was in the theaters. St. Elmo’s is also a fraternity. This took place at Georgetown, which at the time had no frats, but this movie version had them. The only bar I recall them mentioning was Houlihan’s, or possibly Chadwick’s. How about _The Night They Raided Minsky’s_? Or _Cabaret_? _Looking for Mr. Goodbar_? _Cruising_? _The Coca Cola Kid, An American Werewolf in London, Trainspotting, The Commitments_ and _The Boys and Girl from County Clare_ all had extended pub scenes. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/29 "2019-05-02T12:04:37Z")
\*The Crying Game \*and _All Creatures Great and Small_. Possibly _Waking Ned Devine_. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/30 "2019-05-02T12:10:02Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > St. Elmo’s is also a fraternity. To clarify, St. Elmo’s Hall is an alternate name for the Delta Phi fraternity. It never occurred to me that the movie was referring to anything else. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/31 "2019-05-02T12:15:07Z")
_Never On Sunday_ was heavily, if not mostly, in a bar. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/32 "2019-05-02T12:42:57Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I haven’t seen this since it was in the theaters. St. Elmo’s is also a fraternity. This took place at Georgetown, which at the time had no frats, but this movie version had them. The only bar I recall them mentioning was Houlihan’s, or possibly Chadwick’s. Houlihans’ is the bar they mention switching to at the end, as not being a kid hangout. St. Elmo’s Bar is definitely the name of the one they a) hang out at b) one of them works at. ---
**Author:** ![DB\_Coopa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DB\_Coopa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DB_Coopa)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/33 "2019-05-02T13:16:17Z")
Perhaps Factotum? Some other excellent films with great bar scenes without being necessarily bar movies would be In Bruges, Beautiful Girls, The Bargee, The Friends of Eddie Coyle (all of Peter Boyle’s and Mitchum’s scenes together are great), The Verdict (raw egg with your beer, anyone!?) Nobody’s Fool, Good Will Hunting. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252/34 "2019-05-02T13:46:04Z")
AND Star Wars. Mustn’t forget that scene in Star Wars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-primarily-in-bars/833252.md?page=1)