Many films have been made about alcoholism, but surely one of the best is "The Lost Weekend". Billy Wilder directed the drama, and Ray Milland played the lead. Milland was not the director's first choice, but several other actors had turned down the part. Milland himself was reluctant, for the character is a detestable anti-hero: selfish, lying, stealing, and caring about nothing except for getting another drink.
"The Lost Weekend" begins as it ends, with a camera pan of the New York City landscape. The camera then focuses on a whiskey bottle hanging on a string from an apartment window ledge. Don (Ray Milland) has put it there to hide it from his brother (Phillip Terry) and girlfriend (Reagan-ex Jane Wyman), who have devoted the last few years of their lives in a failed attempt to reform Don. He spins lies to escape their watch, steals money from his brother, and goes on an drunken binge. Don suffers endless humiliations, has nightmarish delusions while undergoing detoxification, and nearly gets himself arrested.
The story is relentless in showing the depths that Don will sink to for his next drink. Wilder leaves little hope that a drunk can be reformed, despite a requisite happy ending. One has to wonder how Don's brother and girlfriend could remain so loyal to him for the past few years, when he is such a manipulating loser. It seems that the only character who can see him for what he is, is a bartender (Howard Da Silva) who has seen the kind before.
My favorite scene has Don watching an opera. Butlers are serving the characters, filling their champagne glasses as they prepare for a toast. As glass after glass is filled and raised, Don can't bear it anymore. He must leave the theater to sneak a drink.
"The Lost Weekend" is not an enjoyable movie to watch. It faces truths about addiction without any sugar coating. But sometimes the best films are those that sacrifice entertainment for quality, in this case exploring the character of a drunk without softening it to make him more likable. (91/100)
The Best Picture of 1945 has lost none of its bite or power in this uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Ironically, this bri...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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