Pros: Seeing Jack Lemmon and Jack Klugman, more often known for comedy, in dramatic roles.
Cons: No happy ending for Lee Remick.
The Bottom Line: This picture is a reflection of early 1960s attitudes about drinking and being a drunk, has some "Blake Edwards" entertaining moments and riveting performances.
MsHooterville's Full Review: Days of Wine and Roses
When you see The Days of Wine and Roses, the 1962 film starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick and Jack Klugman, you get a sense that there was much more partying in corporate America, and three-martini lunches were the rule more than the exception. You also get the sense that people didn't understand the disease of alcoholism like we do 40 years later.
Joe Clay, Public Relations Pimp
Lemmon plays Joe Clay, a bright and charming young man trying to get ahead in a San Francisco public relations firm. He's in charge of a very important account, and his duties consist primarily of lining up high-priced party girls to entertain a foreign prince when he's spending time on his yacht. He's good at what he does. Too good. Joe parties as hard as his clients do, but Joe wants to do more important work.
Joe makes a humorous faux pas when a clean cut and beautiful young woman shows up at the yacht dock, wearing business clothes instead of the furs and satin gowns the party girls are wearing. Joe is furious, telling the young lady she should have dressed up. She ignores him and steps on board. Later, he learns that he's mistaken Kirsten Arnesen, the secretary to his company's CEO for a hooker -- and he's both embarrassed and apologetic. Kirsten is a steely Scandinavian who intimidates him with withering glances.
Joe wants to make amends with Kristen for two reasons: she's the right hand to the boss, and who knows -- she's great looking and he might get lucky. Kirsten rebukes him soundly, even making fun of him for bringing her a box of peanut brittle (a peace offering) before finally agreeing to meet him for dinner.
It's clear over a candle lighted meal that Kirsten and Joe have taken a liking to each other and there's some chemistry there. Joe's belting down his usual cocktails, but Kirsten tells him she doesn't drink. She has no moral objections, but she doesn't like the taste and doesn't "see much point to it." Chocolate candy is her weakness, she tells him. So he orders her a Brandy Alexander, and she's an instant convert.
The Blake Edwards Influence: Comic Relief
The first quarter of the movie provides some classic Jack Lemmon humor, directed by Blake Edwards. Before booze turns life sour for Joe and Kirsten, we see Joe spraying for cockroaches at Kirsten's apartment, bringing the wrath of neighbors who pound on the door and curse Joe: "You gotta think of other people, you know. They don't bother nobody until you spray..." until the entire building joins the fray.
We see Joe coming home late from a business meeting, completely blotto, gathering a bouquet of tulips for Kirsten from the planters outside of their fancy high-rise apartment -- and then smashing into a plate glass window.
The lighter touch shows that drinking can be funny, but only up to a point. There aren't many humorous moments in the later parts of the film.
Joe Doesn't Understand That He's an Alcoholic
Kirsten and Joe have a whirlwind courtship and elope. When they show up at Kirsten's father's nursery in the country to tell him the news, they are met with Mr. Arnesen's quiet Scandinavian disapproval of the sudden marriage, and of Joe's public relations career. After they leave, Kirsten wants to find a nice place and have a drink.
Things go well for awhile, with Joe's career continuing to flourish, and the arrival of a baby girl to whom Kirsten is totally devoted. She's given up alcohol because she is nursing the baby, but Joe is resentful that she won't drink with him. He throws a drunken tantrum one night until Kirsten gives in and pours them both a couple of shots.
After that scene, Kirsten can't leave the bottle alone. Time passes, and she's taken up all of Joe's bad habits, including smoking. She's trying to make her energetic toddler spend the whole day napping so she can drink and watch cartoons on television.
Joe's obvious boozing -- coming in late at the office and admitting he had a hangover -- results in his being demoted to an out of town account that takes him away from home much of the time. He gets a call that Kirsten got drunk and burned down their apartment. He gets fired because his problems have become too much of a distraction for him.
Despite these situations, Joe doesn't think he's an alcoholic because he dresses well, gets his work done and doesn't look like a bum. Other people drink as much as he does and they aren't alcoholics. Kirsten tells him problems at his job are "politics" and not due to their drinking.
Then one day while job hunting, Joe sees his reflection in the plate glass window of a bar he's about to enter. He sees the bum he never thought he would become, and he sees the light. He encourages Kirsten to take their daughter and go with him to her father's nursery and get sober and back on track for a new start. Kirsten's father is strong and supportive, despite his initial objections to the marriage.
Joe Thinks He Can Drink Now
After a month or two working at the nursery with both Joe and Kirsten staying totally sober, Joe decides they should reward themselves with a couple of bottles of something 180-proof. Just this once -- they can't be alcoholics is they can stay sober so long. By the next morning, Joe is screaming and crazed in a straightjacket in a mental hospital, and he has destroyed the greenhouse while searching for an extra bottle he hid in a flower pot.
Kirsten has an equally undignified drunken fit when she wakes up her father and demands a kiss, hanging on the appalled man in an incestuous way that's highly disturbing before he throws her into a cold shower.
A totally stiff Jack Klugman shows up as a representative from Alcoholics Anonymous to help Joe. Klugman is totally humorless in this role, such a contrast to his "Odd Couple" days. He's Evangelical in his belief in AA, and he's determined to help Joe get and stay sober. Kristen thinks she can stop drinking on her own.
Love is Not Enough for Joe and Kirsten
One of the most poignant parts of the story is the true love between Joe and Kirsten. In the beginning, Kirsten joins Joe in his drinking to show how much she loves him and supports him. Later, sober Joe finds Kirsten drunken and alone in a sleazy motel, knowing that she's been with men for the price of a bottle. He tries to bring her home, but she won't go. Lemmon's agony in this scene is heartbreaking. Kirsten is begging him to have one drink with her. She's lonely, she still loves him, but she no longer respects him because he's afraid to take a drink.
He knows exactly what it will mean for him if he takes that drink, but he loves her too much to leave. Hours later when he breaks into a closed liquor store to get more, the owner chases him down and pours a bottle of booze in his face as he lies on the ground. Shocked at first, Joe turns his face upward and opens his mouth to catch some. He is no longer thinking of Kirsten, but his next swallow.
Joe Finds His Strength
Finally sober, providing for his daughter and living in a nice place, Joe knows that he can't have both Kirsten and his sobriety. He has made peace with his father-in-law. He has forgiven her for shacking up with faceless men who would drink with her, but he can't live with her unless she commits herself to sobriety. He must finally make the horribly painful choice to give her up, because she won't give up the bottle, even for him and their daughter.
Even while Kirsten tells Joe she can't give up drinking, and she doesn't want to, the film ends with the viewer hoping that she'll change her mind.
While Lee Remick has been noted for her excellence in dramatic roles, this film is one of the earliest to showcase Lemmon's versatility and range of emotion, coming after comedy hits like Some Like It Hot and The Apartment. Both were deservedly nominated for Oscars, and both delivered unflinching portrayals of serious alcoholics without being stereotypical.
The matter of Kirsten's drunken infidelities were handled with subtle dignity. When Joe finds her alone in the motel, she's passed out on the bed wearing a full slip and a cardigan sweater. She wakes up and mumbles "Gimme a drink, Honey..." followed by "Oh, it's YOU" when she sees Joe.
I miss those days when directors could make such a point without nudity and a lurid "gotcha" scene.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: VHS Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.