Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)

Arthur loses all his money, and his wife wants a baby.

Director:

Bud Yorkin

Writers:

Steve Gordon (characters), Andy Breckman

Stars:

Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dudley Moore	...	Arthur Bach
Liza Minnelli	...	Linda Marolla Bach
John Gielgud	...	Hobson
Geraldine Fitzgerald	...	Martha Bach
Stephen Elliott	...	Burt Johnson
Paul Benedict	...	Fairchild
Cynthia Sikes	...	Susan Johnson
Kathy Bates	...	Mrs. Canby
Jack Gilford	...	Mr. Butterworth
Ted Ross	...	Bitterman
Barney Martin	...	Ralph Marolla
Thomas Barbour	...	Stanford Bach
David O'Brien	...	Millionaire
Ron Canada	...	Bartender
John C. Vennema	...	Maitre D' (as John Vennema)

Storyline

In this sequel to the 1981 hit movie, Arthur manages to lose his entire $750 million fortune. Will the former millionaire playboy be able to survive as a broke, unemployable alcoholic? To add to Arthur's problems, wife Linda's biological clock is ticking louder than ever, and she's pressuring him to start taking responsibility for himself.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | alcoholic | adoption | second part | 1980s | 

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Taglines:

No Money. Still Funny.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 July 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Apentaros ekatommyriouhos

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$14,681,192 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Havlin-Robert Shapiro Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The basement New York clinic set was one of the first completed stage sets; excepting this set's revisions had repeated major modifications. Compared to a TV budgeted set, the clinic set should have cost $16,000.00. Every time the director and production designer would fly into Los Angeles, from their New York filming schedule, to survey the progress of their stage sets under construction, the director would order character wall treatments added to the clinic set. The lower bottom vertical set walls were extended forward, with bulging wood ribs skinned with chicken wire, stuffed with newspapers, then finished in a plaster skim coat. With each of their round trip-visits, the walls were repeatedly added with more bulging layers. Their theory, such a NY building would have had the upper floors weight, forcing the sinking of the lower basement walls, causing the sag! The final cost of this small typical film (TV) office stage set, instead, skyrocketed as a film mega wonder for a final cost of $250,000.00! A money power struggle had developed between the studio and the production company with this as an example of "I'll show you how much we can spend!"

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Goofs

When Susan is on her father's boat during the party, her necklace disappears and reappears between shots.

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Quotes

Susan: Weren't we happy, Arthur?
Arthur: Of course. Then we met.

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Connections

Referenced in 3rd Rock from the Sun: Mary Loves Scoochie: Part 2 (2001)

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Soundtracks

"SPEED OF LIGHT"
Performed by Reimy
Written by Deborah Gibson (as Debbie Gibson)
Courtesy of A&M Records

User Reviews

Caught between the moon and a hard place

"Arthur 2" was definitely not as good as the first one but then again, "Arthur 2" was really the best that you could do with a sequel to the original. I mean, where do you go after the happy ending of "Arthur"?

There were some very funny lines in the film and it was nice seeing the cast re-unite, but for some reason the original Susan who was played by

Jill Eikenberry was replaced by Cynthia Sikes, who looks very different than Jill. Anyone know why the change?

Do I recommend anyone seeing this film? Only if you really enjoyed the first film otherwise you're not going to really be able to get into "Arthur 2".