Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7027 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-19
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Synopsis
Blake Edwards's disturbing adaptation of J.P. Miller's PLAYHOUSE 90 story, starring Jack Lemmon as Joe Clay, remains an anomaly in a body of work largely devoted to comedy. Clay, a San Francisco public relations man who likes a drink, meets secretary Kirsten Arnesen (Lee Remick), who doesn't drink at all, and after a short time they marry. After a few more months, Kirsten is able to put away as much booze as her husband. As the years pass, Joe loses one job after another and his wife neglects their child until he begins to realise that both of them are alcoholics. They move into her father's (Charles Bickford) nursery to dry out, but following a couple of weeks of sobriety, they go on a binge. Joe nearly destroys a greenhouse in a fanatical search for a bottle and ends up in hospital ward. Former alcoholic Jim Hungerford (Jack Klugman) tries to persuade Joe to join an organisation ro help deal with his problem, but Kirsten coaxes him back to the bottle. Lemmon is at his best and Remick has rarely been better in this shattering portrait of a couple consumed by addiction. Refreshingly free of the moralistic cliches of this genre, its depiction of the glamour enjoyed by drinking in previous decades throws light on the ease with which many were able to slide into oblivion.

Customer Reviews

a dark and entrancing film
Revisiting this film, having seen it last about 10 years ago, was refreshing to see that it still impressed me. It's the story of how a PR man with alcoholic tendencies (Jack Lemmon) meets, falls in love, marries and "corrupts" Lee Remick, and soon they're both alcoholics. Starting almost as a romantic comedy and turning bleaker every minute to an amazing ending: if you see it with someone you'll end up talking about what happens next. Blake Edwards directs it with a very good hand, his style closer to his previous "Breakfast at Tiffany's" rather than any of his later comedies. As for extras, the director provides a commentary track and there's a trailer and a vintage interview with Jack Lemmon. Warner Bros has put some care into the restoration and the picture looks amazing.

Powerful authentic and beautiful
A bitter sweet portrayal of alcoholism which although filmed some 40 years ago in B&W remains fresh and contemporary.

A journey into the lives of Lemmon a fast-talking PR exec and his country gal young wife who struggle with alcoholism and the desperate search for filling the inner void. It contains a number of subtleties that are positioned with a great deftness- Remick's chocolate addiction, fleeting moments of Lemmon's insecurity and vulnerability, his quest to be liked by everyone and the masks they wear. These touches give the film a depth of credibility, which anyone who has encountered first hand alcoholism can relate to.

The film is a journey from the social drinking of the workplace, to the insanity of those final days where an alcoholic reaches their rock bottom.

The final scene is gut wrenching and yet very moving it will stay with me forever and is a reminder what cunning, baffling and powerful illness alcoholism is.

Still waiting for a better movie on addiction to be made.

Lush u lush
Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick as the married couple, Jacks character as an Alcoholic turns his wife into an alcholic as well & she becomes worse than him!. The Scene where jack walks into a glass window is great!. ( Other movies which show Alcoholics -Lost Weekend- Ray Milland A Masterpiece!. Susan Hayward played an alcky twice -smash up & I'll cry tomorrow)
He Eventually beats alcoholism