What recurring features do movies set in bars and night clubs tend to share in common? Here are three such features:

- Alcohol (What? In a bar?)
- Music
- Starlets trying to get that big break.

Here is our list of the top eight bar movies ever.

Burlesque (2010)

Directed by Steven Antin, and starring Cher and Christina Aguilera , this is the narrative of a young songbird who saves the old diva's night club, not just with her voice, but also with her clever strategy and legal knowledge (think "air rights"). There are plenty of song and dance stage scenes, with splendid costumes and choreography - and amazing vocals with two such talented singers commanding the stage.

Chicago (2002)

Directed by Ron Marshall, and starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, this film is set in 1920's gangster-era Chicago. Two singers, a washed-up diva and a starlet hopeful, both waiting on death row for killing the men in their lives, conspire to use their their murderous notariety to escape the gallows. Queen Latifah brings extra spark to the script and the musical highlight is "All that Jazz".

Coyote Ugly (2000)

Directed by David McNally, this cult classic starring Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia and Maria Bello is a chick flick with plenty going for the males in the audience, too. Coyote Ugly is the name of the road house where the plot happens - where a young lady takes a job serving drinks and teasing the male patrons to make ends meet - until she is to get her big break as a songwriter. Plenty of eye candy for the guys in this one.

Road House (1989)

Directed by Rowdy Herrington, Patrick Swayze is hired to clean things up at the Double-Duce, a brawl-infested honki-tonk in a small out-of-the-way town. It turns out that to clean up the bar, he first has to clean up the town, which is controlled by the local crime boss. More known for its flying fists than for music, it is noteworthy that the band that plays in the bar is lead by Canadian blues-rock guitarist Jeff Healey.

Cocktail (1988)

Directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown and Elisabeth Shue. Like so many bar films, this is the chronicle of a would-be hot-shot trying to find his break. The main plot variance this time around is that this is Tom Cruise rather than some prettystarlet.

BarFly (1987)

Directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway and Alice Krige, this is the one bar flick that actually has "bar" in its title. The plot, such as it is, is about how life is a sewer, but at least we drown in liquor instead of waste water.

Strange Brew (1983)

Directed by and starring Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, this flick is - wait for it - a comedy (big surprise there, huh?) These clowns from the Great White North can make a bar out of any place they happen to be, so why not a brewery (where the beer is already on tap, so to speak)? If you enjoy Bob and Doug McKenzie, the SCTV characters of the 1980s, this is your kind of bar movie. Oh yeah, and lot's of alcohol (it is a bar, after all).

Casablanca (1942)

Directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, this is the most loved bar movie of them all - perhaps the best known movie of any. Bogart's piano lounge is a haven for refugees from the Nazis, and serves as the venue for plenty of intrigue and romance. Above all, Casablanca is most famous for the line "Play it again, Sam" - a line that isn't even in the movie.

Let's also give an honourable mention to the following three movies ...

Wild Hogs (2007), because they blow up a road house(Now that's cool!)

Saturday Night Fever (1977), for what might be the most famous dance scenes of all time, which do take place in a disco.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), which could not be left out because the they named the bar The Titty Twister.

David Leonhardt is a freelance writer, helping people learn about the Bar Whiz directory. Looking for a bar in your town? Here is where you can find a New York bar.