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DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
A slightly over the top but uncompromising look at the disease of alcoholism, 1962'S Days of Wine and Roses is still appointment movie viewing, thanks primarily to some bold directorial strokes from Blake Edwards and a pair of Oscar-nominated lead performances.
Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) is a public relations man unhappy with his job, but dealing with his unhappiness through some heavy drinking. Joe meets an attractive secretary named Kirsten (Lee Remick) who doesn't drink, but he does manage to get her to have dinner with him where he uses her passion for chocolate to get her hooked on Brandy Alexanders. Joe and Kirsten marry and have a child, but eventually alcoholism becomes the glue that is holding their marriage together but the real test of Joe and Kirsten's relationship comes when Joe faces the truth about himself and decides to get sober but Kirsten continues to drink.
JP Miller's screenplay, adapted from his 1959 Playhouse 90 production which earned him an Emmy nomination, takes an up close and unattractive look at this deadly disease and the iron grip it has on its victim. The slow burn of this story is alternately fascinating and aggravating. During that fateful first dinner date, it appears that Joe is going to accept the fact that Kirsten doesn't drink and that she is going to be the one dealing with his sickness, but having her be his nursemaid was clearly not going to be enough for Joe...he wanted a playmate and a partner-in-crime and it was slightly squirm-worthy watching this man pretty much "teach" this woman how to drink in order to make her the kind of playmate he wanted and required. Of course, the story does come full circle when Joe faces the truth about himself but is unable to get Kirsten to do the same.
There are some dated elements to this production, but what isn't dated at all is the work of Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in the leads...Lemmon, in particular, is a one man acting class, in a role that allows him to play any kind of emotion you can think of and he nails them all, earning his third Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor. Remick initially appears to be a little soft to be believable as a woman sinking into full blown alcoholism, but shocks with a performance of such pathos that it earned the late actress the only Oscar nomination of her career for Outstanding Lead Actress.
Lemmon and Remick receive solid support from Charles Bickford as Kirsten's father and a surprisingly sensitive Jack Klugman as Joe's AA sponsor. And any talk about this film has to include a nod to Henry Mancini, whose evocative score, including a gorgeous title song, properly frames this somewhat seedy, but realistic human drama that offers no easy answers to some difficult questions.
A slightly over the top but uncompromising look at the disease of alcoholism, 1962'S Days of Wine and Roses is still appointment movie viewing, thanks primarily to some bold directorial strokes from Blake Edwards and a pair of Oscar-nominated lead performances.
Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) is a public relations man unhappy with his job, but dealing with his unhappiness through some heavy drinking. Joe meets an attractive secretary named Kirsten (Lee Remick) who doesn't drink, but he does manage to get her to have dinner with him where he uses her passion for chocolate to get her hooked on Brandy Alexanders. Joe and Kirsten marry and have a child, but eventually alcoholism becomes the glue that is holding their marriage together but the real test of Joe and Kirsten's relationship comes when Joe faces the truth about himself and decides to get sober but Kirsten continues to drink.
JP Miller's screenplay, adapted from his 1959 Playhouse 90 production which earned him an Emmy nomination, takes an up close and unattractive look at this deadly disease and the iron grip it has on its victim. The slow burn of this story is alternately fascinating and aggravating. During that fateful first dinner date, it appears that Joe is going to accept the fact that Kirsten doesn't drink and that she is going to be the one dealing with his sickness, but having her be his nursemaid was clearly not going to be enough for Joe...he wanted a playmate and a partner-in-crime and it was slightly squirm-worthy watching this man pretty much "teach" this woman how to drink in order to make her the kind of playmate he wanted and required. Of course, the story does come full circle when Joe faces the truth about himself but is unable to get Kirsten to do the same.
There are some dated elements to this production, but what isn't dated at all is the work of Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in the leads...Lemmon, in particular, is a one man acting class, in a role that allows him to play any kind of emotion you can think of and he nails them all, earning his third Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor. Remick initially appears to be a little soft to be believable as a woman sinking into full blown alcoholism, but shocks with a performance of such pathos that it earned the late actress the only Oscar nomination of her career for Outstanding Lead Actress.
Lemmon and Remick receive solid support from Charles Bickford as Kirsten's father and a surprisingly sensitive Jack Klugman as Joe's AA sponsor. And any talk about this film has to include a nod to Henry Mancini, whose evocative score, including a gorgeous title song, properly frames this somewhat seedy, but realistic human drama that offers no easy answers to some difficult questions.