Actually, I think it's only the second, after "The Lost Weekend" in 1945. I apologise if there's any others I don't know about. But it's certainly true that the made-for-TV movie has ruined the genre. Today's alcoholism movies are dreary considered as movies, and offer no pleasure except indulgence of a feeling of moral superiority - which, it seems, is enough for some. It was just this dull moralising that "The Lost Weekend" and "Days of Wine and Roses" broke away from.
Forget about issue-of-the-month TV. Edwards wanted a film that was realistic AND worked as a story, and he found one.
Indeed this is his finest work. He gets great performances out of his two stars - here he was considerably more lucky than Wilder was, although there's nothing wrong with Wilder's cast. The story appears to wander but is really quite tight. Some scenes are fun; many dig into you like small knives. Perhaps there's one too many premonitions at the beginning (this is a problem Wilder didn't have, since his central character was an alcoholic at the start); and some may find that the guy from Alcoholics Anonymous near the end is a bit too good to be true. I also wish that Henry Mancini had stood firm against the temptation to write a smoozy bubblegum theme song for the opening credits. None of this matters, though. Your eyes will be on the central characters the whole time.
Forget about issue-of-the-month TV. Edwards wanted a film that was realistic AND worked as a story, and he found one.
Indeed this is his finest work. He gets great performances out of his two stars - here he was considerably more lucky than Wilder was, although there's nothing wrong with Wilder's cast. The story appears to wander but is really quite tight. Some scenes are fun; many dig into you like small knives. Perhaps there's one too many premonitions at the beginning (this is a problem Wilder didn't have, since his central character was an alcoholic at the start); and some may find that the guy from Alcoholics Anonymous near the end is a bit too good to be true. I also wish that Henry Mancini had stood firm against the temptation to write a smoozy bubblegum theme song for the opening credits. None of this matters, though. Your eyes will be on the central characters the whole time.