Days of Wine and Roses

This is an intriguing, heavy drama about the downward spiral into alcoholism, and how it irrevocably tore apart the lives of one man and his wife. I have some respect for Blake Edwards, having seen this, as I previously had a low opinion of him after seeing The Pink Panther, which to this day I do not understand why it was so successful. But I'm not reviewing The Pink Panther, so I'll lay off it for now. In Days of Wine and Roses, Jack Lemmon really is brilliant, and Lee Remick is disturbingly realistic. The film is right up there with The Lost Weekend (1945), and the story carries an important moral lesson, which it delivers with a punch. Would I recommend? Yes. But to the mature viewer, who can really understand and appreciate it.

What a departure for Jack Lemmon this is! Together with the also Oscar nominated Lee Remick, they offer us a really gripping performance. She ("Kirsten") is a tea-total secretary who is introduced to one of the PR guys "Joe" at a boat party. After a bit of a sticky start, she starts to warm to him and they begin to date. He is never far from a bottle; "hit me again" being his most oft used expression and gradually, even after the arrival of a child to this now married couple, he begins to wean her onto the sauce. Despite the best efforts of her father (Charles Bickford) they quickly spiral into a cycle of drunkenness that costs them their jobs, imperils their daughter and as an example of how badly, and completely, alcoholism can come to dominate their lives, this has to be amongst the most potent depiction on film. Jack Klugman ("Hungerford") tries to offer some route to salvation via AA, and we are offered a few less cerebral drying out methods - all of which offer Lemmon a chance to really show what he is made of an an actor. Some of it still quite distressing to watch (especially if you happen to have a drink in your hand at the time). Messrs. Mancini and Mercer came up with the title song, which perhaps features just once too often; but for the most part this really is captivating cinema with both and director Blake Edwards (usually known for much lighter works) on top form.