Days of Wine and Roses can be taken as a good film on alcoholism --- indeed they show it in rehab clinics --- unless you've never seen Ray Milland in Billy Wilder's 1945 Oscar winner, THE LOST WEEKEND. Wilder's film was flawless; can't say the same about ROSES.
To begin with, ROSES is a screen remake of a superior Playhouse 90 CBS drama. Jack Lemmon was an overrated actor who always simply played Jack Lemmon; no difference from one movie to another -- even when he wore a dress in Some Like It Hot. Although Ray Milland was no hero in Lost Weekend, Milland was the kind of actor who could immediately involve the audience in his problems, whether booze or women. Jack Lemmon's advertising man is impossible to like, and simply makes a fool of himself --- particularly going berserk in Charles Bickford's greenhouse tearing up dozens of plants looking for a key. The obvious impulse is to think about pushing Lemmon's head underwater till the bubbles get quiet; not the intended audience response.
From the annoying, awful Days of Wine and Roses theme song to the final fade-out of the neon BAR sign, there are plenty of flaws here. It takes one to know one, they say. As a Recovering Alcoholic, I recommend LOST WEEKEND --- ROSES can drive a person to the bottle.
To begin with, ROSES is a screen remake of a superior Playhouse 90 CBS drama. Jack Lemmon was an overrated actor who always simply played Jack Lemmon; no difference from one movie to another -- even when he wore a dress in Some Like It Hot. Although Ray Milland was no hero in Lost Weekend, Milland was the kind of actor who could immediately involve the audience in his problems, whether booze or women. Jack Lemmon's advertising man is impossible to like, and simply makes a fool of himself --- particularly going berserk in Charles Bickford's greenhouse tearing up dozens of plants looking for a key. The obvious impulse is to think about pushing Lemmon's head underwater till the bubbles get quiet; not the intended audience response.
From the annoying, awful Days of Wine and Roses theme song to the final fade-out of the neon BAR sign, there are plenty of flaws here. It takes one to know one, they say. As a Recovering Alcoholic, I recommend LOST WEEKEND --- ROSES can drive a person to the bottle.