With the wonderful St. Patrick’s holiday upon us, we raise our glass and propose a toast, not to the douchebags, but to film. Last year, we celebrated with a post to five great movies that best captured the Irish spirit. Since we figured a list of five documentaries that best educate people on the green revolution would be a little lame, we went with five movies with memorable, wonderful bar scenes. Enjoy and happy holiday!
The Social Network- Mark Zuckerberg is now single.
It is the very first scene in the film. Sorkin, Fincher and Eisenberg waste no time portraying their rapid-fire speaking of the contemplative, unaware and kind of douchey Facebook creator. The dialogue is quick, sharp and hilarious, setting the tone and plot for the rest of the film to follow. Watching him get dumped and still diss on his former girlfriend through multiple layers of dialogue is beautiful. “You don’t have to study… Because you go to BU!”
The Wrestler- The ’90s Fucking Sucked.
When Randy the Ram chills in a bar for a drink with a stripper, dialogue isn’t going to be anything fluffy. The two discuss great rock and how it came to an end with “that Cobain pussy.” No further explanation of why the ’90s sucked in this film. The scene also has a small dance part which is delivered perfectly on tap.
A Clockwork Orange- Got Milk?
In one shot Stanley Kubrick captures Malcolm McDowell’s Alex character. It is a shot with an eye and a slow track out, showing what the futuristic bars will look like. As the camera moves back, we see what’s be served for bubbly, and it’s not the traditional Irish drink you will have today. It is memorable, erotic and was enough to inspire the opening of a video game.
The Departed- Cranberry Juice
Leonardo DiCaprio sits at a bar with a clever plan to attract the attention that he wants. Unlike Alex DeLarge, he orders cranberry juice instead of milk. When he is questioned about whether he is drinking the cranberry juice with “What is it your fucking period?” he had enough in him to get into a brawl worth remembering to the right people. It doesn’t hurt that the film is filled with countless other great bar scenes, like Nicholson sniffing out a filthy rat later in the movie.
Tarantino movies
Tarantino knows how to stage a bar. Whether it’s the Inglourious Basterds rendezvous, Death Proof lap dance, Kill Bill “that fucking hat” line or the other countless great bar scenes from Tarantino, it’s well done and filled with that pitcher-perfect dialogue Tarantino knows how to spout so well.
CyniCritics 
Those are five great bar scenes! Love the Inglorious Basterds one – the tension is tangible. And for originality you can’t go far wrong than the sex-bar in A Clockwork Orange.
Some other good bar scenes – Jack Nickolson talking to dead people in The Shining, the drug-deal-gone-bad and consequent shoot-out in Carlito’s Way and the entire second half of From Dusk till Dawn.
Matt pointed out that Shining scene to me too, totally forgot about it. So many great scenes that take place in bars actually, haha.
Indeed some highly memorable bar scenes. My favorite of those 5 would definitely be the one from Inglourious Basterds. Such a long sequence and yet so tense, incredible film-making there!
It is incredible at how well he keeps the tension over such a long scene. One of Tarantino’s finest talents.
@Dan, nice mention of Carlito’s Way!!
Good call on IB Luke!! Also love the Bar scene in Best of the Best and both Boondock Saints movies (even though theose movies themselves aren’t that good. Also, this may not count but the club scene in Beverly Hills Cop is good as is the outside the club scene in the beginning of Way of the Gun.
Neat post Luke!
Thanks! Still haven’t seen Boondock Saints yet… I’ve heard mixed things.
Remember this: “No expectations, no disappointment”:)
FYI the bar scene is in the beginning so you won’t have to wait long. But if you don’t like the first Boondock, then you can skip the second one for sure!
Great picks ! My favourite, hands down is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_ff46b58Hk ! Funny. FUNNY HOW?
It’s hard to pick between Goodfellas and The Departed as a whole, let alone their excellent bar scenes.
VERY memorable. i totally forgot about that outrageous bar scene in clockwork orange (that whole movie is soo trippy to me). of course the departed and that fabulous scene in inglourious basterds.
Awesome idea for St Patrick’s Day post, Luke. I echo most commenters here about IB. That scene totally stretched my nerves to the snapping point… soooo darn tense but what an amazing scene. I wasn’t much of a Tarantino fan before this film but I’m willing to check out his other work because of this.
I think the bar scenes in Up in the Air and Lost in Translation were also filled with fantastic dialogue.