Days of Wine and Roses (film)
"Days of Wine and Roses" is a 1962 film directed by Blake Edwards that offers a stark examination of alcoholism and its profound impact on relationships and personal lives. Adapted from J.P. Miller's teleplay of the same name, the film follows Joe Clay, a public relations man in San Francisco, who spirals into addiction after introducing his new wife, Kirsten, to social drinking. Their initially bright life deteriorates as both characters succumb to the destructive nature of alcohol, leading to professional setbacks, personal crises, and ultimately, a painful struggle for recovery.
The film is notable for its powerful performances by Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, both of whom later faced their own battles with alcoholism. Their portrayals are complemented by evocative cinematography and a poignant theme song by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, which underscores the film's ironic title, taken from a poem reflecting on the fleeting nature of joy. "Days of Wine and Roses" received critical acclaim and multiple award nominations, including Academy Awards for Best Actor and Actress, and it remains significant for its unflinching portrayal of addiction and recovery. The film's cultural impact is underscored by its inclusion in various prestigious lists celebrating cinematic excellence.
Days of Wine and Roses (film)
- Release Date: 1962
- Director(s): Blake Edwards
- Writer(s): J. P. Miller
- Principal Actors and Roles: Jack Lemmon (Joe Clay); Lee Remick (Kirsten Arnesen Clay); Charles Bickford (Ellis Arnesen); Jack Klugman (Jim Hungerford)
- Book / Story Film Based On: Days of Wine and Roses by J. P. Miller
The 1962 film Days of Wine and Roses is an unsparing study of alcoholism. Blake Edwards created one of his best-regarded efforts as a director, using a J.P. Miller screenplay that the author had adapted from his own 1958 teleplay of the same title. Earlier, the drama had been produced for Playhouse 90 on television.
Miller took the title from an Ernest Dowson poem titled "They Are Not Long." The second stanza of that poem begins, "They are not long, the days of wine and roses." The poem is in part about the brevity of youth and joy. Viewed through the distorting glass of a liquor bottle, the idea in the poem is transformed. The movie becomes a story that portrays the desperate pursuit of intense feeling, happiness in particular.
The irony of the title is beautifully captured in the movie’s theme song, which was written by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Such top-notch collaborators are characteristic of the film, which revolves around taut cinematography, great direction, and outstanding performances by the main cast members. Interestingly, Edwards and the two lead players, Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick, all later confronted alcoholism in their own lives. Edwards, in fact, entered rehab the year following the movie’s release. Seen in that context, Days of Wine and Roses may gain some of its power from the personal fears of these talented individuals.
Plot
Joe Clay is a public relations man in San Francisco. He works hard and parties harder. In a misguided effort to advance his career, he even procures prostitutes for his bosses. He mistakes Kirsten Arenesen, an encyclopedia-reading, chocolate-loving, nondrinking young secretary for one of his company’s so-called working girls. As they work their way out of the awkwardness of that moment, Joe falls for the pretty young woman.
He convinces her to try social drinking, and although she is initially reluctant, she says that a drink made her feel good. Thus begins a downward slide. Joe and Kirsten get married, despite her father’s concerns, and they have a daughter, Debbie. Alcohol destroys the idyll.
In time, Joe becomes a cliché. From two-martini lunches, he transitions quickly to the kind of person about whom people say, "I did not know he drank until I saw him sober one day." He and Kirsten both drink almost continuously, passing routinely through pleasure and pain. Joe is demoted at work because of his drinking. When he is out of town on business, Kirsten drinks heavily. She sets fire to their apartment, and she and Debbie barely escape the flames. Joe is later fired due to booze-affected poor performance, a pattern that is repeated four more times over the next four years.
Joe’s epiphany comes when he is walking into a bar and sees his own reflection in the window. At home, he tells Kirsten that he wondered who the bum in the window was—and then he realized he was seeing himself. He knows they have a problem, and he convinces her that together, they can escape their addiction.
They go to work for Kirsten’s father, who has a landscaping business. They remain sober for a while, but then they go on a binge. Joe trashes his father-in-law’s greenhouse as he searches for a bottle of liquor. Joe is so out of control that he is taken away in a straitjacket.
He dries out in a sanitarium, and with help from AA and a sponsor, he stays sober for a while. But once he is reunited with Kirsten, another bender begins. It ends with Joe breaking into a closed liquor store, a crime that sends him back to the sanitarium.
This time, his AA sponsor helps Joe see that remaining sober is his most important task, one he must pursue even if it means staying away from his wife. Joe manages to stay sober for a year. He holds down a job and takes care of Debbie. However, Kirsten is getting worse. She disappears for long periods and picks up strange men in order to keep drinking.
One night, she appears at Joe’s apartment when Debbie is asleep. She tries to reconcile, but because she won’t admit to alcoholism, Joe sends her away. The film ends with Joe resisting the impulse to run after Kirsten as she walks away, a sign flashing the word Bar reflected in the window.
Significance
Although some critics at the time of the movie’s release and since have compared it unfavorably to the Playhouse 90 version of the story—the 1958 teleplay is typically said to have been more powerful, with stronger players in the principal roles—Days of Wine and Roses is widely considered to be one of the high points in Blake Edwards’s very successful career. The movie was a success financially as well, finishing as the fifteenth-highest-grossing film released in 1962.
Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer received an Academy Award in 1963 for the Best Original Song, and the movie received nominations in four more categories: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design. At the San Sebastian Film Festival, Blake Edwards received the OCIC (International Catholic Organization for Cinema) Award, and Lemmon and Remick were named Best Actor and Best Actress. The movie won Golden Globe awards handed out in 1963 for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Motion Picture Drama Actor, Best Motion Picture Drama Actress, and Best Motion Picture Drama Director. In 1964, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave it the BAFTA Film Award: Best Film from Any Source, USA. Lemmon and Remick also received BAFTA awards as the Best Foreign Actor and Best Foreign Actress. Finally, as a measure of its importance in cinematic history, "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made," the Hall-of-Fame list of films compiled by the New York Times film critics, includes Days of Wine and Roses. And the American Film Institute (AFI) likewise honored the film: "America’s Greatest Movies," the AFI’s list of the top-400 films, also cites the movie as one of the best of all time.
It remains a pioneering movie in its unflinching depiction of both the destructive descent into alcoholism (and by extension, any addiction) and the painful process of recovery. Perhaps because the unflattering presentation of addiction is so realistic, the actors are invariably praised for their fearless performances.
Awards and nominations
Won
- Academy Award (1962) Best Original Song
Nominated
- Academy Award (1962) Best Art Direction (Black-and-White)
- Academy Award (1962) Best Actor: Jack Lemmon
- Academy Award (1962) Best Actress: Lee Remick
- Academy Award (1962) Best Costume Design (Black-and-White): Donfeld
- Golden Globe (1962) Best Motion Picture (Drama)
Bibliography
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Caps, John. Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music. Champaign: U of Illinois P, 2015. Electronic.
Charles River Editors. American Legends: The Life of Jack Lemmon. Seattle: CreateSpace, 2014. Print.
"Days of Wine and Roses." TCM. Turner Classic Movies, Inc., n.d.. Web. 29 Jan. 2016. <http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/15971/Days-of-Wine-and-Roses/full-synopsis.html>.
Grimm, R. B. Blake Edwards Unauthorized & Uncensored. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services, 2014. Electronic.
Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
Wasson, Sam. A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards. Fishers: Weslyan, 2009. Print.