Plot
Arthur is a happy drunk with no pretensions at any ambition. He is also the heir to a vast fortune which he is told will only be his if he marries Susan...

Release Year: 1981

Rating: 6.7/10 (13,191 voted)

Director: Steve Gordon

Stars: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud

Storyline
Arthur is a happy drunk with no pretensions at any ambition. 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 she will make something of him the family expects. Arthur proposes but then meets a girl with no money who he could easily fall in love with.

Cast:
Dudley Moore - Arthur Bach
Liza Minnelli - Linda Marolla
John Gielgud - Hobson
Geraldine Fitzgerald - Martha Bach
Jill Eikenberry - Susan Johnson
Stephen Elliott - Burt Johnson
Ted Ross - Bitterman
Barney Martin - Ralph Marolla
Thomas Barbour - Stanford Bach
Anne De Salvo - Gloria
Marjorie Barnes - Hooker
Dillon Evans - Plaza Maitre D'
Maurice Copeland - Uncle Peter
Justine Johnston - Aunt Pearl
Paul Vincent - Plaza Waiter

Taglines: Don't You Wish You Were Arthur?

Release Date: 17 July 1981

Filming Locations: 5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $2,719,534 (USA) (19 July 1981) (701 Screens)

Gross: $95,461,682 (USA)

Runtime: 97 min

Trivia:
John Travolta turned down the role of Arthur.

Goofs:
Continuity: Though Arthur never hands the stolen tie back to Linda, she has it as she walks away from the scene.

Quotes:
Arthur: All I can tell you is, I wish I had a dime for every dime I had.

'Son of Foster Brooks'

Rating: 10/10

Quite simply the funniest and shiniest film-comedy of all time... it's certainly on my personal top-ten list. This one also gets a solid ten on the voting scale. Millionaire heir, Arthur Bach (Moore), is a middle-aged 'child' who refuses to take the mature path in life and avoids all requisite responsibilities. He also refuses to leave the bottle. One day he and his personal butler, Hobson (Gielgud), go shopping at Bergdorf Goodman's and run into petty larcenist, Linda (Minnelli). Arthur and Linda's chemistry adds electricity to the rest of the film. There are hilarious set pieces aplenty. In one such scene, Arthur (drunk throughout most of the story) knocks on the wrong apartment door and receives ear shattering threats from a human 'siren' ("My husband has a gun!!!!). Performances by everyone involved should be duly noted: Geraldine Fitzgerald plays Arthur's loving-yet-ruthless grandmother, Sir John Gielgud almost steals the entire show with his acidic droll-isms (He took home the Oscar for this one), and Christopher Cross provides the Main Theme song (Oscar winner "Best That You Can Do"). It's a shame the late Dudley Moore passed away last month (March 2002).

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