Watch Arthur For Free

So much average

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

First I am wondering how this movie has an overall 6.9 of 10 rating? Then I began reading the reviews and many of you who wrote fantastic reviews for got to select your rating. and I think if you forget to actually select the ratings number that it counts it is sort of a 0. Then I actually saw some really low reviews and I couldn't figure it out but I think that the people are younger people and don't appreciate a smart witty clean language comedy you can watch in mixed company or family. One of the reviewers even hated the film because they thought it was horrible that Auther was a drunk. They were worried about the wrong social message being sent. Now that is a younger "politically correct" person. I wish IMDb would add age group to our profiles. There were so many great movies that would no longer be made in Hollywood in this PC generation. also Alexis got a lot of bad language, sexual innuendo, low brow humor, CGI, special effects, stunts, etc. Hollywood wouldn't Produce and the current generation will not even go see something this good because I don't have any attention span. I was a sophomore in high school when this came out and I thought it was so hilarious I can't imagine any of today's 15 to 25 loving this movie. another great thing is that a lot of this movie was shot on location something that don't do as much of today due to computer graphics. But this truly was a fantastic movie. Great storyline, acting, casting, serious issues as well as humor. everyone who has given this movie a good review please go back in and make sure that you selected the star rating. I could watch this movie once every 3 months and never get tired of it. and for the life of me I have no idea why they remade this movie I'm so tired of Hollywood remaking good movies and that's all they show on the TV is the new versions instead of the original. Viewing this movie is never a waste of time. it was a long time between this movie and the sequel that didn't come out until 1988 I believe and it got bashed but the sequel wasn't really that bad but nothing is as good as the original

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.

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.

Listen up folks..... If you didn't see this movie in 1981 when you were between the ages of 18 and 25-ish you just won't get it. This is a classic comedy film which at the time was seen multiple times by fans, where dialog lines were repeated amongst friends over and over again. And the song, albeit corny now, worked perfectly in 1981 when Chris Cross- type music was the other norm, after the hair bands of course. It's a sweet, funny fairytale with a sad element involved watching Arthur live loud & inappropriately thru the over indulgence of alcohol. Sad state of affairs even today for some of the unhappy rich. I just watched it again tonight having not seen it in a dozen years or more. I laughed throughout. Dudley Moore was at his comedic best. But John Gielgud steals the show with his lines, said dryly as a proper butler would, but hysterical! He won the Academy Award for his role. This was also one of Liza Minnelli's finest moments. Sad, all but 2 of the main characters are dead today. All the more reason to see this movie for the first time or again. Add it to your library of "Films that Left an Impact on a Generation." And watch it with 1981 eyes, even if you were just a twinkle in your mom's eyes at that time! PS> the 2011 version is NOTHING like the original and it's a disgrace to this film and the memory of all involved that this hack-job of a film even carried the same title.