Days of Wine and Roses

Days of Wine and Roses is a 1962 American drama film directed by Blake Edwards with a screenplay by JP Miller adapted from his own 1958 Playhouse 90 teleplay of the same name. The film was produced by Martin Manulis, with music by Henry Mancini, and features Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford and Jack Klugman. The film depicts the downward spiral of two average Americans who succumb to alcohol use disorder and attempt to deal with their problems. An Academy Award went to the film's theme music, composed by Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film received four other Oscar nominations, including Best Actor and Best Actress. In 2018, Days of Wine and Roses was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot San Francisco public relations executive Joe Clay meets secretary Kirsten Arnesen. At first, he considers her to be brash and disrespectful, but he eventually begins dating her. Kirsten is a teetotaler until Joe introduces her to social drinking. She is initially reluctant, but after her first few Brandy Alexanders, she admits that having a drink makes her “feel good". Despite the misgivings of Kirsten's father, who runs a San Mateo landscaping business, they marry and have a daughter, Debbie. Joe and Kirsten slowly go from the "two-martini lunch" to full-blown alcoholism. Joe is demoted due to poor performance, and is sent out of town to work on a minor account. Kirsten is alone all day, and finds drinking the best way to pass the time. While drunk one afternoon, she causes a fire in their apartment that almost kills her and Debbie. Eventually, Joe is fired, and he spends the next several years going from job to job.