I Need A Freaking Drink / Live-Action Films

• In 9 to 5, all three leading ladies — Violet Newstead, Doralee Rhodes, and Judy Bernley — decide to leave work and head for Charlie's for a drink when faced with their individual work crises (Violet being passed over for a promotion, Doralee's advertised "affair with the boss", and Judy witnessing one of the co-workers being fired over a private discussion of wage differences). And at each of their departures, Margaret the alcoholic secretary simply says "Atta girl!"
• Airplane!:
  • Parodied by Lloyd Bridges's character Steve McCroskey complaining, "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking/smoking/amphetamines/sniffing glue" and then being shown indulging in the indicated substance immediately after.
  • Also, one of the excess emergency vehicles to show up at the end is a beer truck.
• In Are You Being Served?, Mrs. Slocombe sees a mannequin's crotch moving on its own and her first reaction is to take a large swig from Captain Peacock's flask. When Mr. Humphries is told of it, he needs a drink too.
• A subtle version happens in Babylon A.D.. During a bonding session with the two women on his Live-Action Escort Mission, mercenary Toorop offers Sister Rebeka a Quick Nip from his hip flask. She refuses despite his kidding her over it. Suddenly Aurora says, "We're all going to die in New York". Sister Rebeka says, "She's just scared" then drinks from the flask.
  Toorop: Yeah, right.
• The Back to the Future trilogy:
  • The first film: This seems to be Marty's reaction to... "parking" with Lorraine, his future mother. Remembering that she's an alcoholic in the future, Marty confiscates the liquor that she's stolen but then takes a swig of it himself. ^note  This COULD be Foreshadowing of his inferiority complex/"chicken problem" in the sequels, because this is right after Lorraine has called him a "square" for not wanting her to drink. He then sprays it everywhere after he sees her lighting up a cigarette.
  • In Back to the Future Part III, Doc heads to a bar after Clara dumps him, not believing his story about being a time traveler. Notably, Doc doesn't actually drink until the early morning... and as soon as he downs one shot, he collapses.
• Battle Beyond the Stars. Cowboy shows off his Utility Belt that dispenses Scotch, soda, and ice; identifying to the girl he's with that he's drinking a Scotch and soda. Later, upon realizing that he can't flee because Sador's spaceship is already too close for a ship to leave the planet undetected, he pours straight Scotch.
  Lux: You forgot the soda and ice.
  Cowboy: No. No, I didn't.
• Benny & Joon: Shortly after meeting Cloudcuckoolander Sam for the first time, Benny mutters "I need a beer."
• Done in the Robin Williams/Nathan Lane comedy The Birdcage. After Armand learns his son, Val, is getting married, Armand downs an entire glass of white wine, then goes to get even more. When the dinner with Val's conservative in-laws-to-be starts going off the rails, Armand and Val both sneak into the kitchen and start drinking Scotch straight from the bottle.
• Subverted in Blood Brothers. Mark, a professional assassin, survives a shootout, wakes up, and the first thing he asks for is a bottle of wine. He takes a swig... and pours the rest on his bullet injury.
• Bridget Jones's Diary: When Bridget screws up her cooking, she takes a swig from a bottle of some alcohol.
• In Clue, as the guests try to determine how Mr. Boddy died when it seems like he wasn't murdered, Mrs. Peacock shouts "Oh, I need a drink!" and helps herself to some brandy. But while drinking, Professor Plum theorizes "Maybe he was poisoned!", making Mrs. Peacock throw the glass on the ground and scream her head off.
• The Con is On: The Alcoholic Peter first says this when his wife Harry tells him they are going to Sidney for help. He says variations of it every time something goes wrong during The Caper; usually followed by him heading for the nearest alcohol and drinking straight from the bottle. harry herself says it when things go especially off the rails.
• Constantine: John Constantine has had a pretty rotten day. Between a bad exorcism, getting the long face from his doctor, hearing from Gabriel that he's damned no matter what he does, Midnite turning down his plea to use the Chair, and John himself hacking up blood, it's small wonder he busts out the Ardbeg when he gets home.
• In The Crossing, an Irish innkeeper and spy for the Continentals has somehow procured a bottle of Madeira wine and declines to share a glass with Washington because it's a gift. Then Washington shares The Plan to attack the Hessians at Trenton. The innkeeper immediately changes his mind about that glass.
• Dark Night of the Scarecrow: When Otis is starting to crack up at the Halloween party, he goes to the refreshment table. The woman remembers that he doesn't drink and gives him a glass of non-alcoholic punch. Otis takes a sip, then puts the glass aside and helps himself to a glass of the alcoholic punch.
• Day of the Dead: "Well if we stay down here long enough, I'll have to lay off the fuckin' booze, Steel, 'cause there won't fuckin' be any of it fuckin' left! In the meanwhile I will continue to indulge myself and I will continue doing my best in the good fight against dry-rot and rust."
• Deep Impact: Jenny Lerner downs an entire martini in one go while meeting with her father and stepmother. They assume it's because she's uncomfortable with their relationship. It's actually because she just learned that the government is covering up the fact that a comet is headed to Earth which, if it hits, will wipe out all life on the planet.
• Destroyer: After chewing out the director and quitting the movie, Sharon Fox decides to have some shots.
• Dumb Money: After Jenny regrets not cashing out before Wall Street puts an end to buying the GameStop shares, she grabs a glass of champagne from a flight attendant. When Jenny explains her situation, the flight attendant says she will get her something stronger.
• Doctor... Series:
  • Doctor at Sea:
    • The stress of Harry's upcoming appendicitis makes Easter hit the brandy.
    • When it is believed that the ship is sinking, Easter reminds Dr. Sparrow to keep the brandy on hand.
  • Doctor at Large: When Dr. Bingham kisses her, Nurse McPherson winces and knocks back the rest of her drink.
• Comes up in Dogma, after the Metatron admits that God is missing and no one seems to know how to stop Bartleby and Loki from ending existence.
  The Metatron: Well I say we all get drunk because I'm out of ideas!
• Near the end of Don't Look Up, this is how Bree Evantee and her co-host Jack Bremmer spend the last moments of life on Earth as the comet makes its final descent: getting absolutely plastered with what looks like every known alcoholic beverage, and swapping celebrity gossip.
• Down Periscope: Zig-zagged. After Dodge gives the command to push Stingray's old clapped-out diesel engines well beyond redline for an extended period of time, the chief engineer pulls out a bottle of whisky and pours a shot for himself and the engineer's mate. He then dumps the rest of the bottle into the fuel line, stating that upping the proportion of ethanol to diesel in the fuel will let him squeeze another 50 RPM out of the engine.
• The Fallout: ​Near the end of the film Vada unloads the fact that she has been drinking, doing drugs, and having sex with a girl all at once on her mother. Patricia's response is to down a glass of wine and then going to have a more in-depth conversation with her daughter.
• The First Power. Detective Logan has this reaction after he and Police Psychic Tess Sutton escape the Resurrected Murderer. After their next lead goes nowhere, she snarks that it was the only good idea that he's had so far and tells him to pull over at the nearest bar. Logan however doesn't join her, his father having been shot in a similar bar.
  Sutton: What's the matter, Logan? I've never heard of a cop turning down a free drink.
  Logan: Should have told me these were the kind of spirits you were looking for.
• Fitzwilly: When Juliet tells Fitzwilly that she let their boss give away $50,000 that the household can't afford to lose, they both sit down and down glasses of wine.
• The Flash (2023). When Prime Barry realises that General Zod is about to launch his Alien Invasion, he grabs a shot from a tray of them held by a waitress who's busy staring at Zod's Do Not Adjust Your Set speech on the television.
• In Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Aaron goes looking for Beth and finds her having a cigarette and a bottle of beer outside the lodge. She begs him not to tell anyone because, under the terms of her probation, she is not supposed to drink, but after the nightmare events of the corporate retreat hiking trip, she really needed a drink. Noting that she is only having a light ale, Aaron promises not to tell.
• Frankenstein Created Woman: After hearing Hans's voice calling to him in the street, Anton dashes into the café, grabs Karl's drink (over Karl's objections), and drains it in a single draught.
• From Hell: One of the prostitutes says as much and goes out to buy some hooch. Bad idea with Jack The Ripper on the prowl.
• Galaxy Quest: After the actors discover they're in a real spaceship fighting in a real space war. In the next scene, Alex has an empty glass with a twisty straw.
  Gwen: Where are you going?
  Alex: To see if there's a pub!
• In Gattaca, Jerome says to Vincent that they "must get drunk immediately".
• In The Godfather, after Sonny Corleone's death, Tom Hagen needs a drink to steady himself before he can break the news to the Don. Before he tells Vito (who can tell from Tom's actions that the news is going to be really bad), he hands him a shot as well.
• Early on in Gran Torino (Eastwood again), Walt offers the young Father Janovich a beer — to Walt's disapproval, Janovich opts for a gin and Diet Coke. Later, when Walt is embroiled in a war with the gang that's been terrorizing his neighbors, he makes the offer again. This time, Janovich says, "I'd love one".
• Variation in Hellboy II: The Golden Army. "You're in love. Have a beer."
• The Holiday: After Miles catches his girlfriend with another man, Iris offers him a cup of tea to console him. When he asks her for "something a little stronger", she takes the teacup away and hands him a glass of alcohol.
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Katniss Everdeen, once she finds out she'll be headed for another Hunger Games in the Quarter Quell. She specifically seeks out booze from Haymitch, whose alcoholism is all but explicitly stated to be caused by his own trauma from being in the games.
• Ice Cold in Alex: Captain Anson struggles with alcoholism throughout, but after his drunkenness leads to one of the party getting killed by German soldiers, he swears off alcohol altogether until they reach their destination in Alexandria. The fabled "ice-cold lager in Alex'" becomes part of the driving force keeping him and the crew going through all their struggles. The scene when they finally reach their reward is perhaps the most iconic need-a-drink (and damn well deserving it) moment in cinema history.
• The Indian in the Cupboard had the cowboy character stumble hungover out of the titular magic cupboard, unaware that he'd been transported through time and space (and size). After swearing to lay off the hooch several times in a row, he realizes that he's surrounded by giants, and proclaims, "Oh my dear sweet Lord. I need me a drink."
• This is Ernie's reaction in It's a Wonderful Life after seeing Clarence escaping Bert's grasp by disappearing into thin air.
• James Bond:
  • GoldenEye: When General Ourumov finds himself being chased through St Petersburg by James Bond in a tank, he pulls out a flask and starts draining it.
  • Casino Royale (2006):
    • Bond, after his initial loss to Le Chiffre in the Poker tournament.
      Bond: Vodka Martini.
      Bartender: Shaken or stirred?
      Bond: Do I look like I give a damn?
    • Bond also pours himself a stiff drink after killing Obanno in a brawl. When he returns to the suite after finishing the poker game for the night, he finds a broken wine glass indicating that Vesper Lynd, who witnessed the whole thing, apparently tried to do this before taking her Shower of Angst instead.
• The Killer (2023). When The Killer turns up at a restaurant to confront The Expert who's dining there, she puts aside her meal and orders a bottle and a flight of whiskeys, knowing her death is imminent. Although the Killer initially refuses her offer of a shot, he eventually takes one after the conversation starts hitting close to home.
• In Kingsman: The Secret Service, one of Eggsy’s first acts upon witnessing Harry's death is to rush to the nearest source of liquor, pour himself a generous amount, and gulp down a swallow.
• The Last Leprechaun: Henry sees his fiancée covered in mud and hears his kids accuse her of being a witch. When she offers him a drink, he gladly takes it.
• In The Little Shop of Horrors, Mr. Mushnik returns late to the shop to get some money to pay his restaurant bill and sees Seymour feeding body parts to the plant. He instantly dashes back to the restaurant and demands alcohol—any kind they've got as long as he gets drunk.
• In Lucy, after being kidnapped and waking up to find she has a bag of drugs sewn in her stomach and is expected to serve as a mule for a crime ring, Lucy gulps down a drink she's offered.
• One of the Americans in The Mummy, while hiding from Imhotep (ineffectively; it's Imhotep) tells his friend to bring him "a glass of bourbon. And a shot of bourbon. And a bourbon chaser!"
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • In Thor, Coulson lets Selvig take Thor back to town with the admonition to "keep him away from the bars." Where does Selvig immediately take Thor? "To get a drink!"
  • In The Avengers, after his army is destroyed and he gets hilariously stomped by the Hulk, Loki admits to the Avengers that, if it's okay with them, he'll have the drink Tony offered him earlier.
  • In Black Widow, Natasha and Yelena both reach for the vodka when their adoptive parents Alexei and Melina start shamelessly flirting in front of them.
• In Molly's Game, when Molly's lawyer Charlie tells her they're going to talk about the Russian mob and asks if she'd like a drink of water, Molly replies, "I'd like a drink of bourbon." Of course, she was an alcoholic, so she couldn't drink.
• Most Likely to Murder: When Billy finds out that his ex Kara is now dating the former unpopular kid Lowell, he says, "I'm gonna need a lot of drinks."
• In My Favorite Martian, while watching Martin try to fix their ship so they can get back home, Zoot's nerves get to him so he pours himself a glass of Downy. When Martin discovers the ship has an I.S.S^note Interstellar Safety System, Zoot drops the glass and guzzles the detergent right from the bottle.
• In My Man Godfrey, during a typical evening at home, Mr. Bullock takes a whole tray of martinis & asks Godfrey to repeat the order in 30 minutes.
• The Naked City: Pete Backalis, one of the killers, is conscience-stricken after the murder. He gets good and drunk and says "I'm gonna stay drunk for a long time." He's wrong about that, as his partner, later revealed to be Willie Garzah, promptly murders him.
• Orphan: First Kill: Leena swigs down vodka after a tense first meeting with Tricia on a private plane as she chastises herself for saying how excited she'll be to see Esther's grandmother but Tricia informs her that she's dead.
• In Paint Your Wagon Clint Eastwood's character, who doesn't usually drink, needs a drink really badly after Jean Seberg's character reveals to him and Lee Marvin's character that she loves both Eastwood AND Marvin and wants to live with both of them.
• Parenthood:
  • When Julie offhandedly announces she's pregnant, one of the first things Helen does is head for the liquor cabinet.
  • A variation—when Susan tries to plan a romantic getaway with Nathan, only for him to immediately begin planning to bring Patty along so she can start learning Spanish, she rushes into her bedroom. There, it's revealed that she's stashed candy, snack cakes, and other sweets in her closet, and indulges in them whenever she gets stressed.
• The Patriot (2000). After getting thoroughly chewed out by his superior, Col. Tavington watches a ship full of munitions, supplies, and General Cornwallis's good clothes get blown to splinters by Benjamin Martin's militia. This takes place at a very gallant ball overlooking the harbor (and the ship). One of the partygoers mistakes the destruction for fireworks. Tavington quickly downs his drink and spikes the glass into the ground.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: "But why is the rum gone?" It's an impressive day when you can accomplish a mission "without a drop of rum".
• The Quick and the Dead. Lady after her gunfight with Dred; she resists a demand to Finish Him! by the Big Bad and heads straight for the saloon for a drink. As Dred just raped his daughter, the Saloon Owner is only too glad to hand her a free one. As he does so, it's shattered by a bullet fired by a Too Dumb to Live Dred, who's burst into the saloon after her. The murdered drink is immediately avenged by the quick-shootin' Lady.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: During the fight in Marion's bar, she sneaks a mouthful of whiskey from a shot-up barrel before knocking out one of Toht's men.
• Red Dawn has Col. Tanner explaining military tactics to a bunch of high-schoolers: "Now I think that's pretty simple. Any questions so far?" Kid: "Yeah, what's a flank?" "What's a defilade?" Tanner: "I need a drink!"
• Red Rock West: Femme Fatale Suzanne is seen pouring herself a drink after her horseback ride, and it's later revealed that during that rider, she shot a blackmailer.
• The Room: Lisa suggests to Johnny to have a drink after the bad news about his promotion not being given.
• Shorti does this in Scary Movie 2. Watching the butler "mishandle" the turkey for the feast forces him to down a bottle of red wine in short order.
• The Shining. Freaked out about all the weird stuff that's happening in the Outlook Hotel, Jack enters the ballroom, sits down at the empty bar and says he'd sell his soul for a beer. The Bartender Lloyd appears out of nowhere with a fully-stocked bar to tempt Jack off the wagon and under the Hell Hotel's influence.
• Soul Mates (2023): After Jason fails to save his brother's life, the first thing he does after getting over his initial shock is to walk over to the bar and pour himself a drink.
• Star Trek:
  • Played with in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: After the not-quite-successful diplomatic dinner involving Kirk, Chancellor Gorkon, their respective senior staffs, and rather too much Romulan Ale, the Klingons have just beamed off the Enterprise, at which point Bones leaves the transporter room proclaiming, "I'm going to go find a pot of black coffee".
  • Star Trek: First Contact:
    • Zephram Cochrane is found very inebriated in a bar after the Borg shell his base camp — though it is implied that he could often be found there, Borg attack or no.
    • At the end of the movie, when the Vulcans in the first contact envoy have a seat at the bar, the leader of the envoy shoots up when Zephram starts up his favorite drunk dancing song on the jukebox ("Ooby Dooby" by Roy Orbison) at maximum volume. After seeing no real cause for alarm and that it's just human silliness, he sits back down and downs all his drink in one gulp.
• Star Wars:
  • Attack of the Clones: After a wild skimmer chase through downtown Coruscant and an attempt on Padmé's life, Obi-Wan announces his intention of getting a drink — or two. Never get into a vehicle piloted by Anakin Skywalker.
  • Solo: After learning it's too late to steal the coaxium and that all their efforts have been in vain, Enfys Nest takes off her helmet and announces this. She and her gang then head into the bar Han and Co just exited and have a few drinks with them.
• Strippers Vs. Werewolves: Franklyn downs a can of beer after wailing on the dead werewolf's body, which he had to do to make it harder to identify.
• In Suicide Squad, Flagg reveals that the battle they're fighting is a bit lopsided, along with really personal for him, right as everyone is in front of a bar. Deadshot's reaction is "You can just kill me right now ...but I'm going to have a drink." as he goes inside. And everyone follows.
• Summerland: After learning Frank's father died and she's tasked to tell him, Alice's first act is pouring herself a drink.
• An Invoked Trope in Sword Of Gideon (1986). A Mossad agent defuses several Booby Traps in his safehouse. Relieved, he opens the fridge to get a drink and sees an Incredibly Obvious Bomb just before it explodes.
• Terror at Black Falls: Juan's vow of revenge drives the nervous, stressed-out townspeople to drink, even the ones who usually stay sober. This means that the saloon is quite crowded when Juan takes it hostage.
• Titanic:
  • After changing into his best evening wear to go down with the ship, Benjamin Guggenheim asks a steward for a brandy.
  • A chef is also seen nervously swigging from a hip flask as the ship begins going down. The man, Charles Joughin, actually survived because of the alcohol he imbibed; it numbed him to the cold and helped him to keep moving, in order to stave off hypothermia long enough to be rescued.
• In UHF, "Weird Al" Yankovic's character, George, has hit the low point of his life, so he leaves the TV studio saying that he needs a drink. His friend Bob points out that he doesn't drink, and George replies, "Yeah, but I've been meaning to start."
• Unforgiven, another Clint Eastwood film. Clint's character, who is trying to put his murderous past behind him, has sworn off the bottle because when he gets drunk, he gets mean. When the news that Ned was killed reaches him, he takes one drink after another, signaling a return to his murderous ways and one hell of a violent revenge coming against Ned's killer, Little Bill.
• The Untouchables:
  • During the whiskey raid at the Canadian border, Oscar Wallace sneaks a mouthful from a shot-up barrel once the gunfire has stopped.
  • At the end, with Al Capone finally behind bars, Eliot Ness is understandably exhausted as he packs up his office and thinks about Malone. When a reporter mentions that Prohibition is due to be repealed and asks Ness what he might do then, Ness responds, "I think I'll have a drink."
• In the Veronica Mars movie, after being dragged to her 10-year reunion, and having to deal with her classmates, Veronica tells Mac, "Okay, I'm not kidding. Where's the bar in this place?"
• In Vertigo, Scottie asks for a drink after Elster tells him about Madeleine's relationship to (and seeming possession by) Carlotta Valdes.
• In Watch Your Stern, after Captain Foster realises that Admiral Pettigrew will make him carry on with the Creeper torpedo trials despite the previous one ending with the sinking of the Fox, he asks Commander Fanshawe for another glass of gin:
  Captain Foster: Well, the Admiral won't abandon the Creeper trials just because of this hitch. That means I'll be firing ship next time.
  Andrews: Well, what's worrying you? Can't you swim?
  Commander Fanshawe: Ah, ha-ha, ha, huh-huh.
  Captain Foster: Give me another drink, Number One, please. Strong one.
• Wild Geese II. A Double Agent turns up at a meeting of high-ranking officers (including a hammy Patrick Stewart playing a Russian general) who are celebrating the death of Rudolf Hess (the MacGuffin of the movie). The Russian general boisterously invites the agent to toast the death of Hess and is surprised when the agent doesn't join them. The agent then admits that he stuffed up and killed the wrong man, with the real Hess having escaped. A KGB man tells the agent that he should have that drink now, pours it for him, then executes him.
• Wild in the Streets: While fighting with his rebellious son Jimmy, Senator Fergus shouts, "You could drive a man to drink!" Jimmy replies, "See? You're part of that alcoholic generation, Dad. You need to drink."
• Invoked in the Australian zombie movie Wyrmwood. After Frank is bitten by a zombie his partner retrieves the first-aid kit from the car. The box is empty but for two bottles of beer, which they share moments before Frank turns.

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