Buried Treasures: Days of Wine and Roses

Most of us think of Blake Edwards as a director of comedies. After all, his “Pink Panther” series provided us with some of the funniest movies ever made, and his Dudley Moore comedies (“Micki And Maude” and particularly “10”) are classics too. But Edwards was also capable of churning out more serious fare. The best of these films was a hit in 1962, but has long since been forgotten. “Days Of Wine And Roses” begins innocently enough, as young public relations director Joe Clay goes on a first date with Kirsten Arnesen. While Kirsten is young and innocent, Joe makes his living in post-war corporate America. When my dad first began his sales career, during this same time period, his best friend warned him he had joined a “drinking fraternity.” Sure enough, Joe introduces Kirsten to social drinking, they have lots of fun, get married and have a daughter. As the Clays' casual drinking descends into a life of full-blown alcoholic despair, both Jack Lemmon (as Joe) and Lee Remick (as Kirsten) turn in the best performances of their careers. Joe eventually loses his top-notch sales position, then bounces around from job to job before reluctantly going to work in his father-in-law’s landscaping business. Joe and Kirsten manage sobriety for a while, but the lure of readily available alcohol is simply too strong. Joe eventually gets sober through the then fledgling organization Alcoholics Anonymous, while Kirsten (a teetotaler at the film’s outset) does not. Simply put, this is a film about alcoholism. Not the “closet” alcoholism portrayed by Ray Milland in “The Lost Weeken,” nor the “death wish” alcoholism of Nicholas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas.” No, this is a warning-shot about the fine line between social drinking and disease. This may not sound like entertainment per se, but consider it a very well-acted and well-written monition. While certain time-and-place aspects of “Days Of Wine And Roses” are dated, its message carries as much heft today as it did over a half-century ago. Lemmon should have won a Best Actor Oscar if for no other reason than his scene of futile anguish when he breaks into his father-in-law’s greenhouse one night for a hidden bottle of alcohol. The personal torment he conveys here is a heartbreaking plea for help — to no one in particular, save for himself and his creator. As a side note, Gregory Peck won that year’s Best Actor Oscar for “To Kill A Mockingbird.” It was one of those “congratulatory” Oscars, where the Academy honors a longtime great more for his or her body of work than the specific performance in question. Ironically, Lemmon himself would win such an Oscar 11 years later for the less-impressive “Save The Tiger.” Screenwriter J.P. Miller adapted “Days Of Wine And Roses” from his own "Playhouse 90" teleplay of 1958. Miller added some new material, Lemmon in the title role and voila! A classic was born. One of the enduring ramifications of this picture was the explosion in popularity of Alcoholics Anonymous. Founded in 1935, AA was still in its germinating state when Blake Edwards released “Days Of Wine And Roses.” The timing couldn’t have been better. The end of Prohibition in 1933, coupled with the return of the often hard-drinking WWII soldiers in 1945, and a new economic and cultural prosperity in America in the 1950s, resulted in an outbreak of alcoholism never before witnessed. Many Americans searched for a cure yet coveted anonymity due to the social norms of the day. Because of its relevance, and again because of Lemmon’s masterful acting accomplishment, I believe “Days Of Wine And Roses” should have won the Best Picture Oscar for 1962 — rather than David Lean’s beautiful, yet long and somewhat draggy, “Lawrence Of Arabia.” As our local newscasts never tire of reminding us, alcoholism (and drunk driving, in particular) is still a problem over 50 years after the release of “Days Of Wine And Roses.” Even if you’ve seen it before, it certainly deserves another look. And that’s why it’s this month’s Buried Treasure.