Alcoholic Role Proved Real Life Drunk Dick Van Dyke a Potent Dramatic Actor

VIDEO – LIFE IMITATING ART? –

Jan. 10, 2023 – Of all the unexpected things a viewer might find as they journey through the various editions of the ABC Movie of the Week, the sight of Dick Van Dyke vomiting blood might just be the most shocking.

During the 1960s, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had cemented his status as lovable icon: Always smiling, bursting with energy, liable to bust out a pratfall or a dance routine at the drop of a hat.

Van Dyke’s decade ended with The Comic, a dark comedy that allowed him to take a shot at a distinctly unlovable character: A silent film star felled by his mountainous ego. Though his performance is almost disturbingly good, it was too little-seen to have any effect on his upbeat persona. Broadcast directly into people’s homes, however, just as the show that made his name had been, 1974’s The Morning After had a bigger impact.

There’s not a lot of plot, and what there is follows a predictable path. When we meet Charlie (Van Dyke), an underappreciated ghostwriter for a celebrity businessman, he’s already gotten through a spell of drinking trouble. Much to the concern of his wife Fran (Lynn Carlin), Charlie starts slipping back into old ways, still claiming that he’s capable of handling the odd drink now and then.