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DVD Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Wine and Roses is one film not to watch if you are melancholic by nature, as this tale of middle-class alcoholism rings very true. Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick are the besotted couple who find that life is not always fun when viewed through rosé-colored glasses. He's the San Francisco business executive who marries Remick and seduces her into a cocktail culture that soon overpowers them both. It is not a pretty picture when their life shatters around them, but this film is extremely compelling for their performances. It is matched only by Billy Wilder's Lost Weekend and the more explicit Leaving Las Vegas. This was nominated for five Academy Awards and won for the title song by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. Filmed by Blake Edwards in 1962, it is based on a Playhouse 90 television production from 1958, starring Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie. --Rochelle O'Gorman
I knew the title song before seeing the movie. Chronicles the destruction that alcohol addiction can bring to all involved. The performances by Lee Remake and Jack Lemmon were excellent. Ever drinker will see themselves. Well worth the time and the dime.
good film but quite depressing
jack lemmon stars as 'public relations' executive,joe clay, who has a problem with the sauce due to part of his job being to 'entertain' the executives of the companies that his company handles.he meets kirsten,played by lee remick who is a goody goody,total opposite to joe.somehow they end up clicking,marry and have a child.eventually joe turns kirsten onto the drink and soon they both become slaves to the bottle.lemmon and remmick are great in their roles and deserved the recognition they got as they are both extremely believable.i would definitely recommend this to people in recovery as well as those who don't think that they have a problem as this movie shows what can happen if you take drinking to the limit.i wouldn't recommend seeing this for the first time if you are depressed as this film is quite depressing and emotionally draining.i don't mean to take anything away from this film because it is really good and probably the best about alcoholism,just be in the mood for a drama.
Graphic portrayal of the ugliness of alcoholism
Blake Edwards Days of Wine and Roses is a sobering and gritty representation of the desperate and often unforgiving world of alcoholism. Edwards does not restrain himself in showing the utter destruction of life wrought by the bottle.
Public relations agent Joe Clay played by Jack Lemmon is an alcoholic, spawned by the rigors of entertaining his clients. He becomes enamored with the lovely Lee Remick playing secretary of one of his clients, Kirsten Arnesen. Remick, a wholesome girl and teetotaler is wooed by Lemmon and they eventually marry. As part of the arrangement Lemmon seduces her to alcohol and they both are now addicted.
The resposibility of parenthood does not curb their ugly habit and their lives quickly spiral out of control. Lemmon proceeds to lose job after job and they deteriorate into a sordid existence. They make several aborted attempts for sobriety aided by Remicks nurturing father, landscaper Ellis Arnesen played passionately by craggy veteran actor Charles Bickford.
Both Remick and Lemmon revert back to drinking with Lemmon winding up straight jacketed in a padded cell in a detox ward.
Lemmon aided by Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Jim Hungerford played by Jack Klugman finally is able to conquer his demons and remain sober. Remick however at movies end is regretably not ready to follow the same path, foresaking both her marriage and child for the comfort of the bottle.
Both Remick and Lemmon give stark and frighteningly realistic acting performances as the unfortunate Mr. & Mrs. Clay. The scene where Lemmon tears apart his father in laws greenhouse searching for a hidden bottle of booze is particularly effective. Under Edwards steady hand, Days of Wine and Roses is the most powerful revelation of alcoholism since the gripping The Lost Weekend.
"I'm not a drinker--I'm a drunk." These words, and the serious message behind them, were still potent enough in 1945 to shock audiences flocking to The Lost Weekend. The speaker is Don Birnam (Ray Milland), a handsome, talented, articulate alcoholic. The writing team of producer Charles Brackett and director Billy Wilder pull no punches in their depiction of Birnam's massive weekend bender, a tailspin that finds him reeling from his favorite watering hole to Bellevue Hospital. Location shooting in New York helps the street-level atmosphere, especially a sequence in which Birnam, a budding writer, tries to hock his typewriter for booze money. He desperately staggers past shuttered storefronts--it's Yom Kippur, and the pawnshops are closed. Milland, previously known as a lightweight... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ray Milland - Jane Wyman Director(s): Billy Wilder DVD Release Date: Released the 06 February 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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After making his mark in several hit comedies including Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton startled critics and audiences alike with his acclaimed performance in this 1988 drama about one man's struggle against cocaine addiction. Keaton's comedic energy is transformed here into the kind of jittery intensity that's perfect for his role, suggesting a driven personality who can maintain the appearance of self-control for only so long before he crashes and burns. After a series of setbacks, Keaton's character seeks refuge in a drug rehabilitation program and must confront the truth of his own addiction at the urging of a counselor (Morgan Freeman) who's heard every lame excuse in the book from addicts struggling to quit. Kathy Baker leads a superb supporting cast as a recovering alcoholic and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael Keaton - Kathy Baker Director(s): Glenn Gordon Caron DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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When a Man Loves a Woman is a dumb title (not another classic pop song, please) for a very smart movie. A kind of gender-switch take on The Lost Weekend, it's about a woman (Meg Ryan) whose alcoholism almost destroys her family. That may sound like just another TV movie, but When a Man Loves a Woman is so authentic in detail and emotion, that everything about it seems fresh, urgent, and engrossing. That's because the film is grounded in the actual experience of co-writer Al Franken (assisted by Rain Man scripter Ronald Bass). Franken is best known for his affiliation with Saturday Night Live and Politically Incorrect, and as the author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and Other Observations. You may recall that Franken is the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Andy Garcia - Meg Ryan Director(s): Luis Mandoki DVD Release Date: Released the 17 April 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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To appreciate 28 Days, it's best to be thankful that director Betty Thomas hasn't forced Sandra Bullock into a remake of Clean and Sober. Instead Thomas has balanced her comedic sensibility (evident in Dr. Dolittle and Private Parts) with the seriousness of alcoholism and substance abuse, and she succeeds without compromising the gravity of the subject matter. Some critics have scoffed at the movie's breezy, formulaic portrait of 27-year-old boozer and pill-popper Gwen Cummings (Bullock), but this smooth-running star vehicle does for Bullock what Erin Brockovich did for Julia Roberts, focusing her appeal in a substantial role without taxing the limits of her talent. It's no wonder that Susannah Grant (who wrote both films) was one of the hottest new... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sandra Bullock Director(s): Betty Thomas DVD Release Date: Released the 30 October 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Who knew comedian Richard Lewis could act? There is no plot to speak of in this character study, which follows AA members who meet in a Times Square basement to bare their souls. The performances, however, are dazzling. A sparse plot follows Lewis through one dark, soul-searching night in which he questions his life, his choices, and his sobriety. The direction is minimal, but Faye Dunaway, Spalding Gray, Parker Posey, Amanda Plummer, Dianne Wiest, and Howard Rollins bring out the intense emotions and dark, bitter humor of Gary Lennon's play, Blackout. We could have used more time with all of them, however, as the only fully realized character is played by Lewis. --Rochelle O'GormanMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Peter Cohn DVD Release Date: Released the 21 March 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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