Days of Wine and Roses [Blu-ray]

Director: Blake Edwards Blake Edwards

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/29/2019
UPC:	0883929696246
Original Release:	1962
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:57:00
Sales rank:	15,308

Special Features

Commentary by director Blake Edwards; Vintage Jack Lemmon interview; Theatrical trailer; 1080p High Definition; English SDH Subtitles

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Lemmon	Joe Clay
Lee Remick	Kirsten
Charles Bickford	Ellis Arnesen
Jack Klugman	Jim Hungerford
Alan Hewitt	Leland
Tom Palmer	Ballefoy
Debbie Megowan	Debbie
Maxine Stuart	Dottie
Katherine Squire	Mrs. Nolan
Jack Albertson	Trayner
Ken Lynch	Liquor Store Proprietor
Gail Bonney	Gladys
Olan Soule	Elevator Operator
Mary Benoit	Tenant
Ella Ethridge	Tenant
Rita Kenaston	Tenant
J. Pat O'Malley	Tenant
Robert 'Buddy' Shaw	Tenant
Al Paige	Tenant
Doc Stortt	Boor
Rus Bennett	Boor
Dick Crockett	Boor
Roger Barrett	Abe
Jack Railey	Waiter
Lisa Guiraut	Belly Dancer
Carl Arnold	Loud Man
Tom Rosqui	Bettor
Barbara Hines	Guest
Charlene Holt	Guest
James Lanphier	Actor
Jack Riley	Waiter
Henry Mancini	Composer

Technical Credits

J.P. Miller

Blake Edwards	Director
J.P. Miller	Screenwriter
Martin Manulis	Producer
Horace L. Hulburd	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

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

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Days of Wine and Roses is among director Blake Edwards's best films, likely his best non-comedy. Where many films about alcoholism may indulge a smug, moral superiority, the tone here is more of examination than of judgment. The performances from Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick are first-rate, as is the supporting performance of Charles Bickford. It is among the screen's most realistic and believable depictions of its subject matter, remarkable as a commercial success in an era that supposedly didn't want films of personal realism. While The Days of Wine and Roses is seldom studied in film schools, it is still often shown in college courses in the social sciences, for its continuing relevance to alcohol and other substance abuse problems. The film was nominated for six Oscars but won only for Henry Mancini's title song, which is now one of its few aspects that seems dated.

All Movie Guide - Richard Gilliam