Cigar smokers aren’t like wine lovers. Cigar lovers don’t have a movie celebrating their passion. Wine lovers have Sideways. But there are some movies that are perfect for cigar smokers, and this is my list of favorites.
- Smoke – Harvey Keitel and William Hurt star in a 1995 movie based on a short story called “Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story.” It strays far from the source material, but it’s a fine film for many reasons, including the screenplay and the performances. Keitel plays Auggie Wren, who owns a cigar store in Brooklyn. Don’t bother with the ill-conceived sequel, Blue in the Face. It isn’t worth watching.
- The Gathering Storm and Into the Storm – These are both movies about Winston Churchill, one of the most famous cigar smokers in history. He’s portrayed by Albert Finney in the first film, and by Brendan Gleeson in the second film.
- Any Marx Brothers Movie – Groucho Marx is another of history’s most famous cigar smokers, and he was in all the Marx Brothers films. They’re all great, but I especially like A Night at the Opera and Duck Soup. Or if you’re just looking for a movie featuring Groucho without his brothers, try Double Dynamite. Any cigar lover worth his salt is in love with Jane Russell already.
- Barney’s Version – Cigars play a role in the plot, as the main character, played by Paul Giamatti, is a cigar smoker. The tobacco is featured more in the novel upon which the movie is based, though. Damn fine movie, though.
- Any Orson Welles Movie – Of course, he made Citizen Kane when he was only 26, and it’s consistently rated the best movie ever made. But his other films often feature him smoking a cigar. If you’re looking for a more unusual Orson Welles movie to watch, check out F Is for Fake, which revolutionized the way documentaries are made.
- Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name Trilogy – I’ve read that Clint Eastwood didn’t really smoke cigars, and the foul face he made throughout the movie was partially because of the nasty tasting cigars he was smoking while they were filmed. A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly make up the trilogy.
- The Seven Per Cent Solution – This is based on Nicholas Meyer’s 1974 novel, which features Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud. Everyone knows that Freud was a cigar smoker, but readers of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories also realize that Holmes enjoyed an occasional cigar–even though he was usually featured smoking a pipe.
- Mark Twain – The Ken Burns documentary about the life of one of America’s literary giants is worth your time. Twain was a well-known cigar smoker, too, of course.
- Watchmen – Great movie, and the Comedian is smoking cigars almost constantly throughout the film.
- Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – Hilarious Stanley Kubrick film. General Jack D. Ripper is often seen smoking a cigar throughout the movie, and it’s one of Sterling Hayden’s most over-the-top performances.