Days of Wine and Roses (1962) is an Academy Award-winning film with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own acclaimed 1958 teleplay for Playhouse 90.

Produced by Martin Manulis and directed by Blake Edwards with Henry Mancini music, the movie stars Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford and Jack Klugman.^[1] The film depicts the insidious nature of addiction in modern life, following the downward spiral of two average Americans who succumb to alcoholism and attempt to deal with their problem.

Miller's earlier teleplay for Playhouse 90 had received much favorable critical attention. Presented live with tape inserts on CBS, the original was a powerful drama, starring Cliff Robertson, Piper Laurie, Charles Bickford and Jack Klugman. In The New York Times for October 3, 1958, the day after Days of Wine and Roses was telecast, Jack Gould wrote a rave review with much praise for the writer, director and cast:

It was a brilliant and compelling work... Mr. Miller's dialogue was especially fine, natural, vivid and understated. Miss Laurie's performance was enough to make the flesh crawl, yet it also always elicited deep sympathy. Her interpretation of the young wife just a shade this side of delirium tremens--the flighty dancing around the room, her weakness of character and moments of anxiety and her charm when she was sober--was a superlative accomplishment. Miss Laurie is moving into the forefront of our most gifted young actresses. Mr. Robertson achieved first-rate contrast between the sober man fighting to hold on and the hopeless drunk whose only courage came from the bottle. His scene in the greenhouse, where he tried to find the bottle that he had hidden in the flower pot, was particularly good... John Frankenheimer's direction was magnificent. His every touch implemented the emotional suspense but he never let the proceedings get out of hand or merely become sensational. ^[2]

Synopsis

Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) meets and falls in love with Kirsten Arnesen (Lee Remick), a bright and non-drinking secretary. They marry, conceive a child and make a home for themselves.

Joe introduces Kirsten to social drinking and its pleasures. Reluctant at first, and after her first few Brandy Alexanders, she admits that having a drink "made me feel good."

Joe is a business man who slowly goes from the "two-martini lunch" to alcoholism and in due time both succumb to the pleasures and pain of alcohol addiction.

At one point Joe walks by a bar and sees his reflection in the window he goes home and says to his wife:

I walked by Union Square Bar. I was going to go in. Then I saw myself, my reflection in the window, and I thought, 'I wonder who that bum is'? And then I saw it was me. Now look at me. I'm a bum. Look at me! Look at you. You're a bum. Look at you. And look at us. Look at us. C'mon look at us! See? A couple of bums.

Later, when Joe is demoted due to poor performance brought on by too much drink, he is sent out of town on business. Kirsten finds the best way to pass the time is to drink, and drink a lot. While drunk one afternoon she sets fire to their apartment and almost kills herself and their child.

When Joe finally gets sober for a while, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous and their meetings, he tries to convince his wife to go dry. Joe explains to Kirsten:

You remember how it really was? You and me and booze--a threesome. You and I were a couple of drunks on the sea of booze, and the boat sank. I got hold of something that kept me from going under, and I'm not going to let go of it. Not for you. Not for anyone. If you want to grab on, grab on. But there's just room for you and me--no threesome.

The film pulls no punches and by the end of the film it offers hope to viewers wishing to recover from the ravages of "King Alcohol" via the self-help group Alcoholics Anonymous.

Background

Some critics observed that the movie lacked the impact of the original television production. For DVD Journal, D.K. Holm described the numerous changes that altered the original considerably when the material was filmed:

Newer does not necessarily mean better. When the opportunity arose to make a film version of JP Miller's powerful TV drama Days of Wine and Roses, actor Jack Lemmon suggested that the studio hire Blake Edwards (according to Edwards, that is) rather than the Playhouse 90 production's original director, John Frankenheimer. On the big screen, Roses began as a Fox project, but ended up at Warner Bros. when the Fox studio started going down the Nile with Cleopatra. With the advent of Lemmon's participation, little remained of the founding teleplay, except for actor Charles Bickford reprising his role. Edwards had started out in television, too, first as a writer then after that mostly noted for the series Peter Gunn, and when he moved into features he was associated with comedies. Lemmon, too, had been in a long string of comedies, and it's easy to assume that both filmmakers were using the opportunity to "stretch." Unfortunately, Edwards, who is kind of a combination of George Stevens (comedy director turned prestige filmmaker) and Vincente Minnelli (excitable content with no distinctive visual style), tilted the original material towards schmaltz, from the comically lush theme-song by Henry Mancini to the exaggerated binge scenes. According to one Lemmon biography, the actor felt a little bad about the fact that his friend Cliff Robertson, who had appeared in the TV production, wasn't invited to be in the movie, but the studio insisted on a certified star for the film. Meanwhile, Lee Remick replaced Piper Laurie. As in the original, Joe Clay (Lemmon) is an organization man, a San Francisco based ad agency public-relations agent who meets and begins to court Kirsten Arnesen (Remick). One night he plies her with a Napoleon and thus begins her downward slide into alcoholism, abetted by his own battle with the bottle. Clay, after some harrowing experiences in the drunk-tank and the mental ward (well-acted by Lemmon), begins slowly getting his act together with the help of AA and his designated "buddy" (Jack Klugman, who would later play on TV the Oscar role that Walter Matthau played opposite Lemmon in the movie version of The Odd Couple). Ultimately, Days is an ad for AA (like its modern-day equivalent, Clean and Sober), but the bleak and even ambiguous ending is to its credit, with the now sober Clay staring out a window after his wife who wanders off into the night, the huge neon sign advertising "Bar" flashing like a beacon beckoning him, and like a brand-name stamped across the former ad-man's face. Lemmon's overdone wackiness is mitigated by a few great speeches ("You and I were a couple of drunks on a sea of booze and the boat sank"), and Remick modulates a descent into sluttiness very well. What's missing is the calm plausibility of the original TV broadcast, revived briefly on cable TV in the 1990s. Lemmon was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird — Days won only for the overproduced theme song.

Edwards became a non-drinker a year after completing the film and went into substance recovery. He said that he and Jack Lemmon were heavy drinkers while making the film.^[3] Edwards used the theme of alcohol abuse often in his films. Examples include: 10 (1979), Blind Date (1987), and Skin Deep (1989).

Both Lemmon and Remick sought help from Alcoholics Anonymous long after they had completed the film. Lemmon revealed to James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio his past drinking problems and his recovery.

The film had a lasting effect in helping alcoholics deal with their problem. Today Days of Wine and Roses is required viewing in many alcoholic and drug rehabilitation clinics across America. ^[4]

The song

The Oscar winning song had music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The phrase "days of wine and roses" is originally from the poem Vitae Summa Brevis by the English writer Ernest Dowson (1867-1900):^[5]

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:

Out of a misty dream

Our path emerges for a while, then closes

Within a dream.

Filming locations

Filming took place in Northern California. Locations include: San Francisco, California and Albany, California, and the Golden Gate Fields racetrack.

Cast

• Jack Lemmon as Joe Clay
• Lee Remick as Kirsten Arnesen Clay
• Charles Bickford as Ellis Arnesen
• Jack Klugman as Jim Hungerford, AA sponsor
• Alan Hewitt as Rad Leland
• Tom Palmer as Ballefoy
• Debbie Megowan as Debbie Clay
• Maxine Stuart as Dottie
• Jack Albertson as Trayner
• Ken Lynch as Liquor Store Proprietor

Distribution

The producers used the following tagline to market the film:

This, in its own terrifying way, is a love story.

The picture was released in the United States on a wide basis on December 26, 1962. The box office receipts for the film were good given the numbers reported are in 1962 dollars. Total sales were $8,123,077.^[6]

Video/DVD

A DVD of the film was released on January 6, 2001 by Warner Home Video. The DVD contains an extra commentary track by director Blake Edwards, and an interview with Jack Lemmon. A laserdisc was released in 1990.

Critical reception

The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, liked the film and the acting but was disappointed in the way the story was written because the characters do not seem to overcome their problem. He wrote, "[It] is a commanding picture, and it is extremely well played by Mr. Lemmon and Miss Remick, who spare themselves none of the shameful, painful scenes. But for all their brilliant performing and the taut direction of Blake Edwards, they do not bring two pitiful characters to complete and overpowering life."^[7]

The staff at Variety magazine liked the film, especially the acting, writing, "Miller's grueling drama illustrates how the unquenchable lure of alcohol can supersede even love, and how marital communication cannot exist in a house divided by one-sided boozing...Lemmon gives a dynamic and chilling performance. Scenes of his collapse, particularly in the violent ward, are brutally realistic and terrifying. Remick, too, is effective, and there is solid featured work from Charles Bickford and Jack Klugman and a number of fine supporting performances."^[8]

Margaret Parsons, film curator at the National Gallery of Art, said, "[The film] remains one of the most gut-wrenching dramas of alcohol-related ruin and recovery ever captured on film...and it's also one of the pioneering films of the genre."^[9]

Awards

Academy Awards Wins (1963)

• Best Original Song, Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics).

Academy Awards Nominations (1963)

• Best Actor, Jack Lemmon.
• Best Actress, Lee Remick.
• Best Art Direction, Joseph C. Wright and George James Hopkins.
• Best Costume Design, Don Feld.

Other wins

• Donostia-San Sebastián International Film Festival: OCIC Award Blake Edwards; Prize San Sebastián, Best Actor, Jack Lemmon; Best Actress, Lee Remick; 1963.
• Fotogramas de Plata, Spain: Fotogramas de Plata; Best Foreign Performer, Jack Lemmon; 1964.

Other Nominations

• Golden Globes: Golden Globe; Best Motion Drama Picture; Best Motion Drama Picture Actor, Jack Lemmon; Best Motion Drama Picture Actress, Lee Remick; Best Motion Picture Director, Blake Edwards; 1963.
• BAFTA Awards: BAFTA Film Award; Best Film from any Source, USA; Best Foreign Actor, Jack Lemmon; Best Foreign Actress, Lee Remick; 1964.

Other honors

• Was selected by the film critics of The New York Times as one of the 1000 best films ever made.
• Selected as one of American Film Institute's best 400 films.

Notable quotes

• Joe: My name is Joe Clay. I'm an alcoholic.
• Kirsten: Thanks for the compliment, but I know how I look. This is the way I look when I'm sober. It's enough to make a person drink, wouldn't you say? You see, the world looks so dirty to me when I'm not drinking. Joe, remember Fisherman's Wharf? The water when you looked too close? That's the way the world looks to me when I'm not drinking.

References

External links

• Days of Wine and Roses at IMDb .
• Days of Wine and Roses at AllMovie.
• Days of Wine and Roses song lyrics.
• Days of Wine and Roses at The New York Times 1000 Best Movies Ever Made.

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