Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

lasttimeisaw The tag line is "The World's Richest Playboy", Arthur Bach (Moore), is a dipsomaniacal millionaire in NYC, who squanders money on drinks and female companions at the drop of a hat, only his dissolute bachelor days are numbered because he is arranged to walk down the isle with Susan Johnson (Eikenberry), a girl from a well-minted family but he doesn't love, otherwise he will be cut off from his gazillion inheritance, and just at that crunch, he meets the girl of his dream, Linda Marolla (Minnelli), a waitress from Queens, and the rest of the story is not difficult to conjecture, it is a choice between love and money, if Arthur has to relinquish one, what will he choose? ARTHUR is director/writer Steve Gordon's only feature film, who prematurely died of a heart attack in 1982, it is a box office sensation and also incredibly, a victorious Oscar contender, broad comedies embraced by the academy has become more and more like gold dust as time goes by, Sir John Gielgud, won an Oscar for his prudent, sophisticated impersonation of Hobson, Arthur's devout butler and indeed, a father figure to him, whose mordant elocution and snobbish/avuncular poise is the perfect antidote of Arthur's excessive jests when he is plastered, also his bowing out denouement tactfully renders the film its well-earned moment of poignancy. Another Oscar is awarded to its theme song, BEST THAT YOU CAN DO, a timeless ear-worm penned by Burt Bacharach and co. and performed by a clear-voiced belter Christopher Cross. Dudley Moore, reaps his sole Oscar nomination with this unrivalled comedy tour-de-force (graced with his accomplished piano bravura), it is really at a premium that a comedian can tips the emotional scale of his viewers apropos of a character that initially smacks of crudeness, intemperance and gaucheness. A pint-size dynamo, Mr. Moore injects an honest-t0-goodness likability once we knows Arthur better, he is a none-too-objectionable man-child and devoid of any wiles awash in the adult society, cocooned in his money-gilded bubble since his birth, but eventually he braves himself to face an impending sea change when he falls in love for the very first time, and Arthur's transmogrification doesn't, as one might habitually dread, comes off as overly mawkish or unduly therapeutic, there is a bracing message in this tall-tale: Arthur doesn't have to better himself to get the girl, instead, he is still the old self when the film reaches its coda, his drinking problem is hard to peter away, so is his compulsive joke-cracking under the influence one might surmise, the only thing has changed is that he experiences love and loss, and is not afraid of getting out of his comfort zone (although the ending lets rip a knowing whiff of jubilation, actually you can have your cake and eat it too!), and lucky enough to find someone who can reciprocate his feelings because who he is, not what he is bestowed (here I mean Linda, not Hobson).On the petticoat front, Ms. Minnelli's puckish moxie is a good match of Arthur's benign wackiness, and Irish veteran Geraldine Fitzgerald evidently have a field day as Arthur's savvy grandmother Martha, everyone must behave on her say-so. By and large, it is a nicely surprising finding that this ostensibly crass comedy actually has wits in the hearts of its hackneyed story and perkily runs rings around most of its contemporaneous light entertainment from an infertile industry.

bsbulldogs I watched this film more than a fortnight ago and I was very disappointed. As soon as Arthur (Dudley Moore) is introduced on screen and laughing like an idiot, I thought here comes almost two hours of unbearable viewing. It turned out I was right. One big reason that could have led to my disappointment was my grandmother telling me that it was real funny and all that might have lead to over-hype. When it looked like doom and gloom early, I thought it might be left up to John Gielgud as Hobson to save the day. Not even he could unfortunately. It might be hard to say this, but he was the best part of the film. That is, if the film even had a best part. Liza Minelli was miscast and didn't seem interested in being in the film. Having been born in the 1990's, maybe I didn't quite get the humour. But that cant be used as an excuse as I have watched some other 80's comedies and laughed. How this film was nominated for 4 Oscars and won 2 is beyond me. The negative effects of this film are still felt today with the song, "Best That You Can Do" and will probably remain a permanent reminder of how bad this film really was.

BoomerDT The first time I happened to see this was on my honeymoon, it was the in flight movie as we were flying home from a wonderful trip. It was a absolutely perfect movie to enjoy at such a time, along with numerous glasses of champagne. Of course you missed quite a bit viewing in-flight movies back then but I've caught up with "Arthur" many times since via cable or rentals and I never fail to laugh. Just a wonderful script and direction by Steve Gordon, it's a shame he passed away shortly after this. While John Gielgud's superb performance as Hobson gained an Oscar, this film was going to either soar or crash on Dudley Moore's performance as Arthur. It's not easy to make a spoiled and perpetually sloshed playboy into a lovable character, but Dudley pulls it off. I've never been a big fan of Liza Minnelli. but she is also terrific as Linda, the waitress from Queens that Arthur falls in love with. Some other fine performances, such as Ted Ross as Bittermann, Arthur's chauffeur and Anne De Salvo, who has a hilarious bit as a hooker who Arthur entertains at a ritzy NYC restaurant.To those who dislike this because it makes alcoholism seem funny and cute...lighten up, it's only a movie. Hollywood has a tradition in making drunks seem lovable. Just as they do with prostitutes. As a PS, still married to the lovely lady 33 years later. Best that you can do is fall in love.

mark.waltz Take the Peter Allen/Carole Bayer Sager Oscar-Winning song and place it in your head and walk around this magical city at night thinking of it as you view the great skyscrapers and beautiful parks. Put yourselves in the shoes of the wealthy wastrel Arthur and his down-trodden waitress girlfriend Linda, and you have the stuff that classic romantic comedy of a screwball comedy could be made of. Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli are a bit of an odd couple, but like William Powell and Carole Lombard in "My Man Godfrey", they are likably quirky. "You have all the qualities of somebody that one might meet in a bowling alley", Arthur's butler Hobson (John Gielgud) tells her, after Arthur saves her from being arrested for shoplifting. He sends her home in a chauffeured town car, and driver Bitterman steps up to give Minnelli the ride of her life, playing along with her desire to shock the neighbors in her lower middle class neighborhood. The 30's are back, and screwball comedy is finally alive and well again! "Arthur, he does as he pleases", Christopher Cross sings in the opening song. He's always drunk, but when he does momentarily sober up, you realize who he really is, especially when he tells the snooty Hobson off. Obviously, this bon viand loves being rich, but hates the responsibility of it, and when his matriarchal grandmother (the wonderful Geraldine Fitzgerald) threatens to disown him if he doesn't marry another rich socialite rather than the down-to-earth Linda, it's a showdown between the rich slob and the rich snobs who hold the purse strings which keep Arthur afloat in bubble baths, chauffeurs and booze.Dudley Moore was already known as a talented funny man, and after brief forays into film in the 1960's, had practically disappeared until he got the showy cameo in "Foul Play". "10" was his major come-back (more like a bounce back, he had never really been away), and "Arthur" was the frosting on the cake of his finally rising film career. Minnelli, after smashing success in the early 1970's, had bad luck with three flops in a row, yet continued success on live stage, wisely took a slight back seat to Moore, yet her presence is felt, even if future film appearances would be rare and sometimes even worse than the ones she had done between "Cabaret" and "Arthur". They play very well off of each other, yet Minnelli humbly gives the chemistry between Moore and Gielgud more focus. "Chicago's" original "Mr. Cellophane" (Barney Martin) is very amusing in a reconciliation with Minnelli (playing Linda's blue-collar dad) who briefly appeared in that show early in its run.Prior to the explosion of the blockbuster genre of the 1980's, popcorn films like this were major box-office fireworks. You didn't go to the movies to expect to down a bottle of aspirin later on; you went to be entertained, hug the date you were with, and leave smiling rather than hold your head in agony. "Arthur" has retained its reputation as a major hit of 1981 with everybody coming out smelling like a rose. Unfortunately, it wasn't the stepping stone for its director, Steve Gordon, who would die the following year. Had he lived, he could have gone on to be as legendary as the other hot directors of the year and kept the more gentle ideals of movie making afloat rather than many of the harsher ideals which have come along since.