Barnes & Noble

Adapted from a well-regarded episode of TV's Playhouse 90 series, this superb drama -- a bittersweet love story with harrowing complications -- earned kudos for its uncompromising realism upon theatrical release in 1962. It has weathered the intervening four decades with very little loss of effectiveness; even today Days and Wine and Roses retains the power to shock. {|Jack Lemmon|} portrays a San Francisco public relations man whose floundering career gives him an excuse to accelerate his heavy drinking. Worried that she's losing her husband to the demon alcohol, beautiful but insecure wife Lee Remick hits the bottle with him, hoping somehow to regenerate their diminished compatibility. The results aren't pretty. Blake Edwards, better known for comedies such as The Pink Panther movies and 10, depicts Lemmon and Remick's downward spiral with brutal frankness and a calculated disregard for the facile solutions and empty platitudes of typical Hollywood movies. Lemmon's performance is both dynamic and chilling; his descent into a self-made Hell is positively blood-curdling. Remick, too, is effective in a difficult role, suggesting early on that she has an addictive personality that will facilitate her own succumbing to alcohol's anesthetic effects. Both stars earned well-deserved Academy Award nominations for their performances, but it was composer Henry Mancini who actually took home an Oscar that year for his title song, a deeply evocative standard Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

In this addiction melodrama, Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon), a promising adman, meet his future wife Kirsten (Lee Remick) at a party. Once married, the pressures of his business lead Joe to seek solace in liquor. Kirsten joins him in his nocturnal drinking sessions, and before long both are confirmed alcoholics. After several frightening episodes, Joe is able to shake the habit thanks to AA, but Kirsten finds it impossible to get through the day without liquor. The two split up, although Joe clings to the hope that someday he and Kirsten will be reunited, if for no reason other than the sake of their young daughter. J.P. Miller adapted the screenplay from his own 1958 Playhouse 90 television script. Though nominated in several categories, Days of Wine and Roses won only the Best Song Oscar for Henry Mancini's title tune. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 085393092924
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: B&W, Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:57:00
• Sales Rank: 5,894

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