I watched another movie filmed on location in the Bay area. This time I chose The Days Of Wine And Roses a rared dramatic film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack Lemmon and in a career defining role, Lee Remick.
The movie tells the story of an average young couple who's life of social drinking slowly spirals out of control into alcoholism. It's one of the first films to truly depict the horrors of alcoholism and the workings of AA.
Jack Lemmon is excellent as the PR man whose job requires him to hoist a few, but whose drinking slowly takes over his life. And Lee Remick gives the performance of her career as a girl he meets and marries and introduces her to the fun that can be had with booze. The movie can be brutal at times even though some of the medical scenes seem dated.
Jack Klugman and Charles Bickford turn in stellar supporting roles and Edwards does a superb job handling the material without giving in to melodrama.
My only issue with the film is that after watching Jack Lemmon for years one I can identify most of his signature mannerisms and they are all on display here and that can be come distracting.
At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars
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