To start, I love this movie and am completely charmed by Jimmy Stewart always, but I could'nt really tell is Elwood is an alcoholic or not. Obviously the movie touches on alcolholism but Elwood and Harvey's trips to the bar always seemed so light-hearted and social, not like hard core drinkers. Anyways, sorry if this is a terribly obvious question!
shareThat is always the impression I got. The description of a pooka mentioned that they like "rumpots". Plus this is a light-hearted movie, so I think they would have avoided showing any of the nastier effects of alcoholism.
shareHarvey and Elwood go to bars because people with problems go to bars.
He's pleasant and nice to them. He doesn't drink much at all. Enough to keep conversations going and enough to keep company to those who have no company.
He's not a drunk. He's just someone who'll always be there for you even if you don't know him. Often people in bars need someone to talk to, and he's got a long pair of ears to lend.
There's gold up in them hills! Grab a shovel and some buckets! We're comin' back rich!
Elwood hides booze behind books in his home. He jumps at the chance for drink whenever it is mentioned. When asked if he drinks, he evasively says "i'm working on it." I imagine Elwood is an alcoholic to the extent that he knows he uses it as a crutch. It doesn't seem to impair his daily functioning, however, so in the stereotypical sense of being a drunk, I'd have to say no.
shareElwood is a drunk. He drinks to "keep even" You have to learn to pace yourself. There are binge drinkers who lay in gutters. There are sloppy drinkers who land in a gutters every day or night and then there are the ones who are genteel and sweet, generous with time and money but.. that doesn't mean they're any less of a drunk. By Elwood's own account he says he didn't used to be the way he is now. He used to fuss and fright and worry about things ... then he found something that made him ...relax and smile at everyone and take notice of a sunny day....
This movie is total fantasy. Alcohol doesn't do that for you long term. I should know....
He drinks only gently and companionably to maintain the delusion that he has Harvey as a friend and that life can be pleasant and simple. He explains that he learned to be pleasant rather than smart, to get through life. The "shot" that is to be administered in the hospital is equivalent to going sober, because it will remove that delusion from his life, making a "stinker" out of him forever. The "alcoholic" terminology doesn't really apply in Elwood's case, because the only adverse effects are Harvey, and Elwood's tendency to bring home strangers to dinner.
shareJust because the film doesn't show many adverse affects of alcoholism (aside from seeing a 6-foot tall rabbit, maybe), that doesn't make Elwood any less of an alcoholic. He's still dependant on alcohol.
http://www.olympicartichoke.blogspot.com
A little off topic but drinking doesn't help Elwood "to maintain the delusion that he has Harvey as a friend." Harvey was very real (at least in the film, I've never read/seen the play).
It is pronounced "EGREGIOUS"
I see Elwood as a social drinker, not a drunk, whose problems stemmed from the loss of his mother and his alienation with his life of privilege. He could afford to be eccentric, so he was.
shareI see Elwood as a social drinker, not a drunk
Perhaps the book was "How to Win Friends and Influence People"?
shareHarvey was with him. He wasn't alone.
shareElwood is most definitely a drunk, a loveable drunk but a drunk nonetheless. It doesn't impair his functioning because he doesn't really do anything, other than socialize. His character is independently wealthy, from the days when he was smart instead of pleasant, I imagine. In fact, I think the real reason he's so pleasant is he doesn't have to work :)
And I think it's at least debateable whether Harvey is real or not. I happen to think he's a delusion.
Elwood is not a drunk. He believes Harvey is there (rightfully or wrongfully) independent of alcohol. When Elwood goes to drink he orders double of everything because of Harvey and ends up drinking both incidentally. Elwood is a casual, recreational drinker because he's easygoing. He doesn't take himself too seriously. Were he a drunk he'd be drowning his sorrows. Elwood hasn't any sorrows to drown because he has Harvey, whose mischievous ways are probably turned on Elwood on this occasion in giving him a taste for alcohol. Harvey, though, does seem to have the best interests of Elwood in mind. Perhaps Harvey believes that Elwood is in need of a drink and to socialize with his fellow man? Perhaps men who are not thinkers like he allegedly was, but regular fellows with problems to drown. I mean, look at the women in Elwood's life. He's definitely in need of a strong drink.
~Justin
I once read a synopsis which described Elwood as a "gentle tippler".
'Noun: tippler - someone who drinks liquor repeatedly in small quantities'
Harvey is real. He opens doors and gates and causes the text in the encyclopaedia to change so it addresses Mr Wilson directly.
He's A drunk or about stupid. Today this story is dated and has no basis in reality. I would never want to know a person as insipid as Elwood. His self-centeredness wreaks havoc on everyone around him. Yuk!
shareKind of hard to see Elwood P. Dowd as a self-centered person. His sister and niece are living in his house and he is supporting them with his money. They want him out of the way because his eccentricities are getting in the way of their dreams of being in high society. They're social climbers. He's down to earth.
shareNo he isn't really an achoholic. He just likes to foster that impression to have an excuse for being just plain whacko -- however charmingly and amusingly so.
This has always been one of my favorite movies, too. I saw it as a child when it was new. Have seen it several more times and loved it more each time. Have not seen it in a while, but am getting set to watch it on a new DVD tonight!
He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
By today’s standards maybe Elwood was, but the film was made in 1949-1950. The world was a different place then. People used to drink martinis and beers at lunch, and go back to work; and that was pretty normal. Now of course - zero tolerance to any use of alcohol during the day. Same with smoking - re-watch those movies made in the 1940s and 50s and you will be appalled at how much everyone is smoking and drinking. It may have been a reflection of how things were or an insidious advertizing ploy. I know that when I was a kid (in the 1960s) my parents both (considered typical middle class Americans) smoke and drank alcohol a lot by comparison of today. I guess the product of all that Movie product placement. So you may want to consider that Elwood’s drinking may have just been another device to get the audience to question Harvey’s existence.
shareI would say that Elwood was an alcoholic. The usual negative aspects of alcoholism were played down.
I suspect that Elwood was also into psychotropic substances like LSD. It's possible that Elwood slipped a bit into Dr Chumley's drink at Sam's. Elwood and Dr Chumley were the only two characters who saw Harvey. Other characters only attributed events to Harvey. For example, Veta and her coin purse.
Various events, like doors opening and gate lever moving, were put in to make the viewer think Harvey was in our world as well as the worlds of Elwood and Dr Chumley.
All in all, an interesting film that I happened to watch just after the intriguing Shutter Island (2010) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/.
7/10 Good
Although Veta says Elwood does drink, still Veta's complaint doesn't have anything to do with his drinking. This is because when Dr. Sandersons asks if Elwood's drinking is "To excess?"
Veta replies "To excess? Well don't you call it excess when a man never lets a day go by without stepping into some cheap tavern, bringing home a lot of riff-raff - people you never heard of? If you don't call that excess, Doctor, I'm sure I don't know what excess is."
This is because Veta is a social climber. Elwood is exactly the opposite.
Another major reason why Veta wants to commit Elwood has to do with Elwood's friend Harvey. Veta says "I want him committed out here permanently because I cannot stand another day of that Harvey."
Veta has also seen Harvey (this is what she tells Dr Sanders that make him think she's crazy), and she doesn't drink at all.
Your 'drugs' interpretation cannot be supported by the text. That's definitively not what kind of film it is.
It's that kind of idiocy that I empathize with. ~David Bowie
Elwood is not a "drunk". he goes to bars to meet and help people. He is not drunk in the movie and rarely even drinks, even though he is in bars. In the context of the movie Harvey is real. Elwood has chosen a different life style than most people. He outlines this in the scene where he says you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Many mistake his pleasant attitude for drunkenness. He has a small town pleasant, everyone is a friend opinion of life.
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