10 Best Booze-Guzzling Movie Characters

Cage’s portrayal of the suicidal Ben Sanderson, a failed screenwriter who decides to spend the rest of his severance cheque on booze and women in ‘Sin City’, was nuanced and moving, a brilliant character study in alcohol-induced depression.

Sanderson suits Vegas perfectly, where hedonistic glamour is undercut with tales of personal ruin and the American Dream turned sour. In one scene Sanderson dances down the liquor aisles of a store, in another his hands are shaking so badly he can’t even sign a cheque.

Waking up each day with cuts and bruises he cannot explain, Sanderson forces booze down his throat as though it were medicine for a cancer. It is Sanderson’s end-of-days romance with a prostitute, however, which elevates the character to higher echelons.

There is a hopeful tone about the film that despite all the despair these two deadbeats could somehow find love in each other’s desperation. Cage won an Oscar for his performance