. . . but THE BOTTLE AND THE THROTTLE shows that that's not half as bad as "Billy" getting his booze. Dalton Trumbo's Johnny, after all, had no one to blame but himself for his legless, armless, faceless predicament. When the military came calling for him, Johnny could have pleaded "bone spurs," as so many U.S. Presidents have done. Sure, Johnny's injuries pose some limitations to his post-war prospects. He's unlikely to excel as an MMA cage fighter, or even join a gold medalist Winter Olympics curling team. However, there's always other fish in the sea (such as Goodwill). After the chaos of War, Johnny can savor his time for quiet reflection, and have the peace of mind that he "played his part." Pickled Bill, on the other hand, has gone on a drunk-driving mayhem spree, murdering a young girl strolling within a crosswalk at a stop sign, and permanently "crippling" her mom. Bill will be forced to "drink to forget" as long as he lives. This most likely will lead to a vicious circle of more wrecks, more maimed innocent bystanders, more drinking, and more forgetting on his part. The saddest thing here is that there's no way to tell Johnny about Bill. If Johnny still had eyes to see or ears to hear THE BOTTLE AND THE THROTTLE, I'm sure he'd think "Gee, I'm really glad that I'm not Bill!"
2 Reviews
A good idea for a short film....but one that most likely helped no one.
planktonrules8 September 2019
"The Bottle and the Throttle" is a short film about the dangers of drinking and driving. It is very well intentioned but also comes off as rather dull and difficult to believe...making its effectiveness rather limited. This is because instead of just telling the story, it has heavy-handed narration....dull narration at that. It's because it dispenses LOTS of information (most of which is absolutely correct) but most heavy drinkers are likely unaffected by facts and statistics. Had they emphasized the damage the young drunk driver did when he hit the two people, it would have been a much better and more effective film.
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