Drunk in Public

This bleak and astonishing film chronicles the physical and mental deterioration, over a 15-year period, of Mark David Allen, an alcoholic living on the streets in Newport Beach, CA, who—as of April 2009, at age 47—had been arrested 478 times for being “drunk in public.” Many of the arrests occurred after someone called the cops with a “man down” report. Allen usually had to be taken to the hospital for treatment before being transported to the drunk tank. Filmmaker David J. Sperling, who is also a Newport Beach Police Department custody officer, includes many brief conversations with Allen, most of them shot when he arrived still inebriated by cheap vodka or when he was released (once again vowing to Sperling that he would, this time, definitely quit drinking). But so far nothing—not Alcoholics Anonymous, counseling, a Salvation Army rehab center, or an incarceration lasting more than a year—has stopped him from going back to the bottle as soon as he could cadge enough cash. Sperling notes that Allen, while sober, consented to appear and participate in the film, which is in part intended to help others avoid or break out of such addiction. After seeing an abbreviated version, Allen says, “It's very good, David,” before leaving the jail only to get drunk again within a few hours. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Zoretich)