In case you were looking for an excuse to go see an award-winning movie Friday, Jan. 23:

Mickey Rourke, star of "The Wrestler," unflinchingly recognized man’s best friend during his acceptance speech for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama at last night’s star-studded Golden Globes.

Oft overshadowed by his odd role choices and personal life, Rourke’s acting career has been rocky for more than a decade. Dejected, he even returned to boxing from 1991 to 1995. But last night’s television audience saw a very grateful underdog. "Wow, this has been a very long road back for me," he said. " ... Several years ago I was almost out of this business."

Rourke said his reputation precedes him and trivializes film financing. For taking a chance on him and the movie, he thanked talent agent David Unger and his boss Jeff Berg, director Darren Aronofsky, Fox Searchlight and Peter Rice, co-stars Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei, songwriter Axel Rose and producer Scott Franklin.

The television audience might have deducted Rourke's personal life to be quite thankless; he’s been married and divorced twice. Then, about two minutes and 40 seconds in, with an "ah, who else" ...

"I’d like to thank all my dogs – the ones that are here, the ones that aren’t here anymore, because sometimes when a man’s alone, that’s all you got is your dog, and they meant the world to me."

The 52-year-old's affection for his dogs have long been evident to the press, who regularly meet Rourke's Chihuahua-terrier mix, Loki, at interviews and most recently spotted the 16-year-old pooch at the 65th Venice Film Festival Closing Ceremony.

Rourke scored points in my book for giving credit where credit was due. Time-sensitive producers must have considered the canine shout-out a last straw, though; Rourke quickly thanked Bruce Springsteen, who won Best Original Song-Motion Picture, as the grandiose music cut him off.

-- Sandra M. Klepach