Barguide: Bars on film

A look at the best watering holes in cinema

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Everything’s better in the movies: The people are hotter, the explosions are bigger and dragons, aliens and robots from the future happily co-exist. Even the bars are better, and it’s not like they need any help. Here are some of the best places to wet your whistle that Hollywood has ever conjured up — including two real ones.

— Rick’s American Café, “Casablanca.” Of all the gin joints in all the world, this is the one that sets the bar for classiness, political subterfuge and dramatic romantic reunions. Rick sticks his neck out for no one, but dammit all if he doesn’t break all his own rules — even the “No ‘As Time Goes By’ Edict” — when she walks back into his life.

— The Prancing Pony, “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”/“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” On worse nights in a regular bar, the guy hitting on you may look like a hobbit, but only at the Prancing Pony do you have your choice of wizards, dwarves and future kings, too. It’s the first place Frodo slipped on the One Ring and it’s where Gandalf enlisted Thorin Oakenfeld, so this place has some serious Middle-earth juju. Just don´t fall asleep next to any Nazgûl … .

— The Ink and Paint Club, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” When you order your whiskey on the rocks here, you have to specify “ice” or your penguin waiter may slip you a tumbler full of actual rocks. Dueling pianists Daffy and Donald Duck (no relation) can’t make it through Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody” before one blows the other away (sometimes literally) and you just may lose your heart to a busty cartoon babe. And don’t forget to tell ‘em Walt sent you.

— Korova Milk Bar, “A Clockwork Orange.” After an afternoon of in-out, kick back with your droogs for a tall glass of milk plus drencrom, which will help you make up your rassoodocks on where the evening will take you for a rousing bit of ultraviolence. But take it easy on the cat lady or they’ll cure you, all right.

— The Three Clubs, “Swingers.” The best thing about this place is that it’s an actual bar, right down to the weird old people singing covers in the corner. This is the Los Angeles nightclub that kicked off the mid-‘90s swing-dancing craze and introduced the world to Vince Vaughan, but don’t hold that against it. It’s money, baby.

— The 12 Pubs of the Golden Mile, “The World’s End.” Not actually one bar but a full dozen, this is probably the best fictional bar crawl in movie history. Not even the apocalypse will keep Gary King and his mates from finishing the epic-est night of drinking in history. Don’t turn this into a drinking game at home, though, or you won’t make it to the end.

— The Mos Eisley Cantina, “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” This wretched hive of scum and villainy comes with a kickass house band and some of the most colorful regulars you’ll ever see. But leave your droids outside — they don’t serve their kind there.

— The Oriental Saloon, “Tombstone.” Wyatt Earp’s casino was the site of many a “misunderstanding” between the Earps and Doc Holliday and the nefarious Cowboy gang that ruled Tombstone. You may want to brush up on your Latin and the rules to faro before you enter: This is where the educated drinkers reside.

— Cocktails & Dreams, “Cocktail.” This is the movie that planted the seed for a whole slew of aspiring bartenders in the late ‘80s. You’ll have to put up with a cocky young Tom Cruise, but you’ll see some pretty badass bottle flipping.

— Double Deuce, “Road House.” Sure, you’ll probably get in a bar fight, but at least it’ll be to the bluesy slide-guitar work of the Jeff Healey Band. And you might learn a thing or three on proper bar etiquette from the resident bouncer.

— The Titty Twister, “From Dusk Til Dawn.” Where else can you start the night with a Salma Hayek table dance and end it in a bloody gunand-crucifix war with a gang of thirsty bloodsuckers? “From Dusk Til Dawn”: Slaying vampires before slaying vampires was cool.

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