So, I’m not sure I ever saw anything Dudley Moore made before. I know the man’s name and face, but I don’t think I ever watched one of his movies. The most I knew about him was he, or his famous “Arthur” character, was a running gag on the animated TV series The Critic. Now, I am all about filling in my cinematic and cultural gaps as much as possible, so why not try his most famous movie out?
That’s a bit easy when HBO currently has Arthur in its watch catalog. Would this movie still work for me in 2020 the way it did for audiences in 1981, or has Steve Gordon’s sole directorial work aged badly?
The movie opens in a way that tells you everything you need to know about the main character. Wealthy playboy Arthur Bach (Moore) is laughing hysterically from the back of his Rolls Royce limousine before having the driver pull over to the side to pick up a prostitute. He cracks a bunch of jokes only he finds funny before getting one of the two women of the evening standing on the corner to get into his car, having the driver Bitterman (Ted Ross) pay the other one anyway. He then takes his paid-for date to a fancy restaurant, embarrasses himself some more without realizing it but getting away with it since he’s so rich, and then takes her home, only for faithful butler Hobson (Sir John Gielgud) to show up the next morning to get him washed, her out, and then get Arthur over to see his father at the family company, a place Arthur hates since they do actual work there.
Now, despite his general obnoxiousness, the movie presents Arthur as basically a child in an adult’s body. His room is littered with toys, he doesn’t take anything seriously, but he’s somewhat sweet deep down. He wants to find love for himself, but his family is insisting he marry a socialite named Susan (Jill Eikenberry) or else he will be cut off. Arthur agrees to that, but then he spots brazen, working class Linda (Liza Minnelli) shoplifting a man’s tie from a department store and, liking her style, ends up going out with her, possibly sober for the first time in ages. Arthur can continue to do whatever he wants as long as he wants if he marries Susan, a woman who claims to love and understand him though that seems highly doubtful, or he can give it all up to love an aspiring actress who won’t take any of his nonsense. What will Arthur do?
A movie like this could easily be very mean-spirited and cruel, but despite his continual drunkenness, Arthur never comes across as a bad person. Careless and not all that funny, true, but he’s generous and more immature than anything else. Much of the movie deals with Arthur essentially growing up. To that end, Moore and Minnelli actually have some good chemistry, and it’s easy to see why the two like each other. Arthur’s drunkenness is never the source of the comedy like, say, Animal House or the like, but it likewise isn’t played like some kind of demon-in-a-bottle scenario. Quite frankly, it looks like Arthur could give up the booze whenever he wants to, but he just chooses not to. Moore’s Arthur is more of a lonely man-child, who calls the butler who specializes in sarcastic put-downs his only friend, and he probably isn’t wrong. Arthur’s world is full of people who don’t really go for things like love and human decency. Heck, Arthur’s grandmother just suggests Arthur keep Lisa as a side piece, something neither Arthur nor Lisa is all that interested in.
But the real joy here may be Gielgud, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of a loyal manservant who comes across, eventually, as something of a real father-figure in Arthur’s life as opposed to just a guy to be bossed around. That doesn’t stop him from dropping all kinds of insults and one-liners at Arthur, Lisa, and anyone else within in his sights. When the old man dies late in the movie of an unstated disease, Arthur cares for him in a way only Arthur can, and it’s an earned moment of pathos.
Still, it is a comedy, so it’s not like Arthur was ever in danger of either marrying Susan or losing his fortune. But all things being equal, Arthur is a charming little romantic comedy that was well worth my time.
Grade: B
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