The Lost Weekend (1945)
Grade: 91
Many films have been made about alcoholism, but surely one of the best is "The Lost Weekend". Billy Wilder directed the drama, and Ray Milland played the lead. Milland was not the director's first choice, but several other actors had turned down the part. Milland himself was reluctant, for the character is a detestable anti-hero: selfish, lying, stealing, caring nothing except for getting another drink.
"The Lost Weekend" begins as it ends, with a camera pan of the New York City landscape, then focusing on a whiskey bottle hanging on a string from an apartment window ledge. Milland has put it there to hide it from his brother (Phillip Terry) and girlfriend (Reagan-ex Jane Wyman), who have devoted the last few years of their lives in a failed attempt to reform Milland. Milland spins lies to escape their watch, steals money from his brother, and goes on an drunken binge, suffering endless humiliations and nearly getting arrested.
The story is incredible in the depths that Milland will sink to for his next drink. Wilder leaves little hope that a drunk can be reformed, despite a requisite happy ending. One wonders how Milland's brother and girlfriend could remain so loyal to him for the past few years, when he is such a manipulating loser. It seems that the only character who can see him for what he is, is a bartender (Howard Da Silva) who has seen the kind before.
My favorite scene has Milland watching an opera. Butlers are serving the characters, filling their champagne glasses as they prepare for a toast. As glass after glass is filled and raised, Milland can't bear it anymore and must leave the theatre.
"The Lost Weekend" is not an enjoyable movie to watch. It faces truths about addiction without sugar coating. But sometimes the best films are those that sacrifice entertainment for quality, in this case exploring the character of a drunk without softening it to make him more likeable.
kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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