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The Lost Weekend (1945)
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Charles R. Jackson (novel), Charles Brackett (screenplay)
Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling
Genre: Drama
Ray Milland is one of the all time great actors and he knocks it back as the self loathing alcoholic that is fighting the bottle and losing as he goes on a 4 day drinking binge...aka a bender.
For 1945 this Billy Wilder directed movie is brutally frank and honest about the powerlessness an alcoholic can feel over the bottle. Audiences must have been stunned by what they seen on the screen...and Ray Milland portrays a very believable alcoholic. The movie shows the deceits, the lies, the stealing and the self deprivation that the alcholic puts his loved ones through. Milland's charater would seem to have it all, a beautiful, intelligent and caring girlfriend played by the future wife of Ronald Regan....Jane Wyman.
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Writers: Charles R. Jackson (novel), Charles Brackett (screenplay)
Cast: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling
Genre: Drama
"The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout."
Ray Milland is one of the all time great actors and he knocks it back as the self loathing alcoholic that is fighting the bottle and losing as he goes on a 4 day drinking binge...aka a bender.
For 1945 this Billy Wilder directed movie is brutally frank and honest about the powerlessness an alcoholic can feel over the bottle. Audiences must have been stunned by what they seen on the screen...and Ray Milland portrays a very believable alcoholic. The movie shows the deceits, the lies, the stealing and the self deprivation that the alcholic puts his loved ones through. Milland's charater would seem to have it all, a beautiful, intelligent and caring girlfriend played by the future wife of Ronald Regan....Jane Wyman.
Jane's character is real good at being an 'enabler' in that at first she thinks her boyfriend just like to drink a lot. Later she wises up and gets tough in her attempts to dry out the drunken boyfriend. But no matter what the situation her faith and love in him is never shaken.
The actress who played the b girl (Doris Dowling) added a certain notoriety and grittiness to this already gritty film. Love the expression on Milland's face in that photo.
One of my favorite scenes was how in desperation he would hide booze bottles but then get so drunk he couldn't remember where they were hid. Oh and the scene in the DT tank at the hospital, powerful stuff. Milland reportedly spent a night in the detox tank to find out what it was like. And it doesn't sound like a place anyone would want to visit!
The actress who played the b girl (Doris Dowling) added a certain notoriety and grittiness to this already gritty film. Love the expression on Milland's face in that photo.
One of my favorite scenes was how in desperation he would hide booze bottles but then get so drunk he couldn't remember where they were hid. Oh and the scene in the DT tank at the hospital, powerful stuff. Milland reportedly spent a night in the detox tank to find out what it was like. And it doesn't sound like a place anyone would want to visit!