‎Days of Wine and Roses (1962) directed by Blake Edwards • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Days of Wine and Roses

1962 Directed by Blake Edwards

From the days of wine and roses, finally comes a night like this.

An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.

Jack Lemmon Lee Remick Charles Bickford Jack Klugman Alan Hewitt Tom Palmer Debbie Megowan Maxine Stuart Jack Albertson Leon Alton Don Anderson Lynn Borden George DeNormand James Gonzalez Kenner G. Kemp Harold Miller Bert Stevens Arthur Tovey Barbara Hines Charlene Holt Mary Benoit Ella Ethridge Pat O'Malley Mel Blanc Gail Bonney Dick Crockett Russell Custer Mathew McCue Jennifer Edwards Show All…

Alternative Titles

Gegen alle Vernunft, Días de vino y rosas, Stärker als alle Vernunft, Vício Maldito, Hektiske dage, Viinin ja ruusujen aika, Le jour du vin et des roses, Meres krasiou kai louloudion, Míg tart a bor és friss a rózsa, Дни вина и роз

drama romance

117 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★★ 5

Gustav's #10 Film Selection for Edgar

"They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
– Ernest Dowson, from "Vitae Summa Brevis" (1896).

A screwball comedy in the first act, a jazzy account of addictive self-destruction in the second act, and a thought-provoking melodrama in the third act... It is somewhat justifiable that the world got extremely excited with a phenomenon like Dr. No, got disturbed by the claustrophobic dementia of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and the Academy got touchy with a meaningful social commentary against racism and intolerance featured in To Kill a Mockingbird, but hidden beneath the shadows of…
Review by TajLV ★★★★ 3

"You remember how it really was? You and me and booze - a threesome." ~ Joe Clay

When this film was released, I was only eleven years old, too young to see it in the theater. However, I do recall the advertising with Jack Lemmon. It must have been on TV or a trailer I saw when watching another film. I'm also pretty sure my parents went to see this, and I know they owned a record album that had the Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer Oscar-winning title song on it, although I don't remember if it was Andy Williams singing or Perry Como.

Jack Lemmon plays San Francisco P.R. man Joe Clay in a romance with Lee Remick as executive secretary…
Review by Steven Sheehan ★★★½

It was in an interview with James Lipton that Jack Lemmon revealed his disease. He was addressing the host of Inside The Actors Studio and the budding actors sitting in the audience waiting on his every word, discussing the moment his character in this film, Joe Clay, stood in front of an AA meeting and stated he was an alcoholic. "Which I am incidentally" Lemmon continued. Cue stunned silence.

Taking on the role of Clay was essentially a sideways move for a man who was struggling with the bottle in his own life at the time. According to director Blake Edwards, both Lemmon and Remick were heavy drinkers, shooting many of the scenes when they were inebriated. If true, that…
Review by Varghese Eapen ★★★★★ 1

I have seen many movies about addiction...but if i had to choose one that completely nails it,this would be the one..I would say it is the most harrowing depiction of alcoholism in cinema..In fact i still remember when i saw it i was left shell shocked...i could not speak once the movie got over..i had trouble finding the right words...As for Lemmon and Remick,what can i say?? Sheer masterclass of the highest latitude and the performances of their career..The Academy Retards yet again botched up!! This movie is a gut wrenching experience and makes you realize that life aint a bed of Roses!
Review by James ★★★★ 1

Few movies take on the subject matter of alcoholism with such thoughtful insight and tact. Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend was perhaps one of the first instances of Hollywood using realism to highlight the devastating impact it has on the lives of those afflicted.

Going further than Wilder dared to, Days of Wine and Roses is another groundbreaking exploration of a misunderstood and dangerous illness that subtly shifts in tone, beginning as a light-hearted screwball comedy then a jazzy mood piece before finally becoming a powerful and overwrought melodrama. Director Blake Edwards was the perfect choice to do this, having just demonstrated his versatility with blending multiple genres in Breakfast at Tiffany's, which moved effortlessly between comedy, romance and melancholic…
Review by Steve Moyle ★★★★★

I saw this about a week ago and I wished I reviewed it earlier but then again it really was a experience that was hard to put into words. I also only mean that in the best of ways, it's just my second Blake Edwards film and i'm very impressed with how he captured this film regarding such a damaged couple. Dealing with the effects of chronic Alcoholism, the way it affects the individuals and the people around them, especially the ones closest to them. Joe (Jack Lemmon) and Kirsten (Lee Remick) have recently gotten married, Joe has a great job but soon his life goes to a true downhill spiral, Kirsten doesn't drink at first but after they get…

Recent reviews

Review by Carter_Aakhus ★★★★ 1

This is a very classy film. It solidified my belief that Jack Lemmon was a fantastic actor.
Review by grapejuiceplus ★★★½

Sad Movie Sunday. A depressing descent into the world of alcoholism. A little too dramatic, too sensational and try hard, but still a very good movie. Overall quite serious, but there are some very absurd moments, too. (Played totally straight speeches about seamonsters, a scene of Jack Lemmon just spraying roach spray continuously for like three minutes (predating the odd couple by six years) and then the whole apartment complex coming out in the hallway and yelling about people spraying chemicals, among other things) The Lost Weekend is much better, but this is still a good'n.
Review by aletheajoy ★★★★★

This, in its own terrifying way, is a love story.

This film was exquisitely written and beautifully acted and the result is heartbreakingly tragic. The last film I have seen to really take on alcoholism was The Lost Weekend which was originally released 17 years before this. While that film is well-acted by Milland and expertly directed by Billy Wilder, it doesn't pack the same emotional punch. In the earlier film we never got to know Don (Milland) outside of his drunkenness, and the Hollywood ending sapped the film of some of its strength (not entirely the filmmaker's fault. 1945 was a different time in movies).

In comparison to that, this feels raw and real and relatable. We get to…
Review by Mark Alvarez ★★★★

Jack Lemmon is a public relations executive who has a meet cute with secretary Lee Remick. Lemmon is a drinker; Remick is an alcoholic virgin. He introduces her to the world of drinking. They get married. Soon, she begins drinking as much as he does. One day, Lemmon sees himself, really sees himself, and realizes that he and his wife are alcoholics.

This film is a really harrowing and realistic loom at how two normal people can become alcoholics, and how painfully difficult it can be to crawl out of that hole. Simply admitting to yourself that you're an alcoholic is harder than it sounds.

It isn't always an easy film to watch. Our lead characters, even after realizing that…
Review by AntoniusBlock7 ★★★½

Films involving substance abuse just don’t appeal to me all that much, but if you’re in the mood for one, it’s hard to top the performances of Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick here. The characters aren’t all that likeable, particularly Lemmon’s early on (even when he’s not drunk), but the film gradually draws us in to empathy with a real disease. Director Blake Edwards has a great sense of pace, which helps with what is a heavy story. There are lots of big scenes where the actors really put themselves out there (and did quite well), but my favorite was the little moment when Lemmon walked into the window. Oh, and I loved the reference to the poem ‘They Are Not Long,’ by Ernest Dowson.
Review by Zach ★★★★

I think I liked this a lot, but I can’t shake this weird feeling I got after the end. Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon are fantastic, though I found Lemmon’s performance a tad over the top at times. The weird feeling comes from the narrative decision made to make Remick a non-drinker in the begining who is corrupted by Lemmon. By the end of the film, it is Lemmon how has his shit together with Remick being a complete mess who is unable to envision life without a drink. Why does that feel weird to me? I don’t know for sure. Lemmon’s character’s actions feel predatory to me, and while he does suffer throughout the movie, he still comes out…
Review by Ed Scheid ★★★★★

This is still the best film about addiction, because it shows the growing relationship between a PR man and a secretary before they become alcoholics, so what becomes lost for them is acutely felt. As the central couple, Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick give indelible performances, perhaps their best. In a poignant aspect, Remick's character doesn't drink until introduced to cocktails by her future husband.

The exceptional screenplay by J.P. Miller is based on his TV production. Miller and director Blake Edwards focus on the human cost of addiction, for maximum emotional effect. As in his comedies, Edwards expertly builds on scenes as when a euphoric night of clandestine drinking escalates into a memorable sequence as Lemmon feverishly attempts to find a bottle hidden in his father-in-law's greenhouse. The couple react differently to their alcoholism, leading to a devastating ending.
Review by Bianca Reimonenq ★★★★½

TCM 31 Days of Oscar

As of what I’ve seen this is the most heartbreaking performance Jack Lemmon has delivered. This film is such an absolute gut punch that you don’t quite see coming. It starts like a Billy Wilder/Jack Lemmon romantic comedy, but one that slowly spirals out of control. You learn about their addictions as the characters are learning because addiction isn’t something someone just accepts, it’s something that takes time to understand and recover and for these characters it takes multiple steps in order to reach recovery.

The way this film was marketed with the tagline: “This, in its own terrifying way, is a love story” added with the most horrifying poster I’ve ever seen adds to…
Review by Shane ★★★½

Though at times feeling like an ad. For AA, this movie encapsulates well the manor in which otherwise successful and healthy people can fall into addiction. Featuring Lee Remick and the consistently impressive Jack Lemon, who’s role as Joe has been cited by many as one of the great drunk portrayals on screen, as well as the inspiration for Nick Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas”. Tonally, I think the film does a tremendous job of appearing to be in regular early 60’s manor, then all of a sudden we’re taken on a sharp turn in the story and see a far grittier side of both cinema and Jack Lemon than Hollywood was accustomed to at that time.
Can’t go wrong with seeing this one.