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.
Claudio Carvalho
In New York, the reckless millionaire Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore) is frequently in the headlines since he is permanently drunk. However he is a warmhearted person raised by his butler Hobson (John Gielgud). When he stumbles with Linda Marolla (Liza Minnelli) in a store, he notes that she is shoplifting a tie and he decides to follow her with Hobson. Arthur helps Linda when the security guard arrests her and they date in the night. They fall in love with each other, but Arthur's father and grandmother want him to marry the also millionaire Susan Johnson (Jill Eikenberry); otherwise they will take his fortune. What will Arthur do?"Arthur" is an overrated romantic comedy from the early 80's. The problem is that there is no worthwhile character or message in the story. Arthur is an alcoholic reckless man. He meets Linda when she is shoplifting in a store. Her father is a greedy man. Hobson is a snobbish man and when he goes to Linda's house, he feels totally uncomfortable. The nicest character is the driver Bitterman. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Arthur, o Milionário Sedutor" ("The Seductive Millionaire")
jimbo-53-186511
Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore) is a care-free drunken millionaire playboy who has no issues in frittering his life and wealth away on prostitutes and alcohol. However, his parents threaten to cut off his $750 million inheritance if he doesn't marry the equally wealthy Susan (Jill Eikenberry). Arthur is initially prepared to go ahead with the marriage (if only to get his inheritance), but complications ensue when he falls in love with everyday waitress Linda Marolla (Liza Minnell).I think one of the pivotal factors riding on how much you'll enjoy this film is whether you take to Dudley Moore's character and the problem for me is that for the most part I couldn't; although I'm prepared to concede that Moore was excellent whether he was playing the drunken fool or whether he was playing it straight. The problem I had is that the writers didn't give him the best material to work with; a lot of his drunken ramblings weren't funny and to be honest I found him to be annoying rather than funny when he was drunk - his constant laughing every time he told a joke felt like an obvious prompt to get the audience to laugh at material that clearly wasn't funny. As mentioned, I don't blame Moore for this and I honestly think he was absolutely superb, but his character was annoying a lot of the time.The real star of the show was John Gielgud as Arthur's butler Hobson who is a man who doesn't mince his words and isn't afraid to speak his mind. Gielgud was fantastic and delivered his dialogue in a dry and understated manner and his character was actually much funnier than the much more brash and obnoxious character that Moore portrayed (well they do say that less is more). I honestly think that this would have been close to being a disaster without Gielgud.Although the first 60 minutes is largely obnoxious and annoying, the final 30 minutes are very good - the scene where we witness Arthur looking after Hobson on his deathbed was genius and very touching. That scene for me was probably one of the best in the film. Although Arthur being sober for a month and then falling off the wagon a few hours before his wedding did feel a little forceful and a little too contrived.Despite some of the problems, this film does have a big heart and it's an interesting social commentary about loneliness and about showing that love and happiness are more important than wealth. I have to admit that even though the climax was somewhat predictable and not all of this worked for me, it did leave me with a smile on my face at the end.
slightlymad22
I really wanted to like this movie, and it was OK, but it was not as good as O remember.Plot in A Paragraph: Arthur (Dudley Moore) is a happy drunk with no ambition in life. He is also the heir to a vast fortune which he is told will only be his, if he marries Susan. He does not love Susan, but his family expects she will make something of him. Arthur does as he's told and proposes, but then meets a girl (Liza Minelli) with no money who he could easily fall in love with.Dudley Moore's drunk act had me cringing, and found it annoying, yet his sober Arthur was more watchable. Liza Minelli is a joy (as always) as Linda Marolla, as is Geraldine Fitzgerald as Martha (Arthur's Grandmother) but it is John Geilgud as Hobson that steals the show (and rightfully took home the Oscar) that steals the show. He is brilliant. This movie also features one of my favourite songs of all time 'Arthur's theme' by Christian Cross
