Dry and Thirsty

Summary

Set against the parched backdrop of the nascent Volstead Act, 'Dry and Thirsty' chronicles the quixotic odyssey of Horace Radish, a man whose physiological and psychological requirement for spirits borders on the transcendental. As the American landscape transforms into a barren desert of enforced sobriety, Radish embarks on a series of increasingly desperate and frantic stratagems to procure clandestine libations. His pilgrimage of desire eventually leads him to the Bootlegger's Haven Hotel—a mirage of hope in a dry wasteland. However, this purported sanctuary is guarded by the implacable William Allways Tryan, a lawman whose very nomenclature suggests an inexhaustible, vituperative resolve to uphold temperance. The film dissolves into a frantic ballet of evasion and pursuit, where the stakes are a single drop of amber liquid and the cost is total incarceration, presenting a kinetic study of human desperation through the lens of early slapstick.

Synopsis

Horace Radish wants a drink, but Prohibition is in force. When all his other schemes fail, he heads to the Bootlegger's Haven Hotel with high hopes. But waiting at the hotel is the tough lawman William Allways Tryan, who is ready to toss in jail anyone found with even a drop of liquor.