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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 424219" data-attributes="member: 8">DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962)[ATTACH=full]56446[/ATTACH]Jack Lemmon is one of those actors who can make his performances look as if they&#039;re completely improvised, and yet I&#039;ve never enjoyed him in the comedy films he&#039;s made.He&#039;s so naturally funny that it almost clashes with the comedy dialogue and situations, there just isn&#039;t enough room for both of them.Thankfully he&#039;s also done straight drama like this film, and that&#039;s where his comedic talent can explode without the pressure of producing as many laughs as possible.I applaud any co-star who can keep up with Lemmon&#039;s unstoppable energy, but Lee Remick does so much more than that in her role of the alcoholic wife and mother.Apart from The Omen I mostly know her from her work for TV, and she was consistently good in those movies and mini-series from the 1980s.From that period I would recommend Mistral&#039;s Daughter, also starring Stacy Keach and Stefanie Powers.The chemistry between the two lead actors is the main attraction in this film, which is for the best because many scenes give the impression of a stage play rather than a film.The flow of narrative could have been better, I think there are too many scenes that look like stand-alone episodes, especially with the time jumps going on.The intensity of the couple&#039;s problems, or perhaps everything about their marriage, doesn&#039;t find a sounding board in its fictional society; except for Lee Remick&#039;s character&#039;s father, supporting characters come and go without ever becoming part of the bigger picture.The performances mostly overcome this oddly isolated tone, and apparently it was based on a live TV play from 1958 so I guess that explains it.While I was watching this film I was reminded of Bigger Than Life (1956) starring James Mason and Barbara Rush. These actors are just as great as Lemmon &amp; Remick but the film itself felt too much like a cautionary tale.Days Of Wine And Roses doesn&#039;t avoid the downbeat narrative that the topic deserves.It features a particularly shocking scene in which Lee Remick&#039;s drunken character climbs into her father&#039;s bed and then she doesn&#039;t want to leave until he kisses her good night.The film&#039;s hightlight is Jack Lemmon&#039;s frantic search for a missing bottle of booze, and without that underlying tone of humour it would have been just melodramatic.Great stuff.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 424219, member: 8"] DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962) [ATTACH type="full"]56446[/ATTACH] Jack Lemmon is one of those actors who can make his performances look as if they're completely improvised, and yet I've never enjoyed him in the comedy films he's made. He's so naturally funny that it almost clashes with the comedy dialogue and situations, there just isn't enough room for both of them. Thankfully he's also done straight drama like this film, and that's where his comedic talent can explode without the pressure of producing as many laughs as possible. I applaud any co-star who can keep up with Lemmon's unstoppable energy, but Lee Remick does so much more than that in her role of the alcoholic wife and mother. Apart from [I]The Omen[/I] I mostly know her from her work for TV, and she was consistently good in those movies and mini-series from the 1980s. From that period I would recommend [I]Mistral's Daughter[/I], also starring Stacy Keach and Stefanie Powers. The chemistry between the two lead actors is the main attraction in this film, which is for the best because many scenes give the impression of a stage play rather than a film. The flow of narrative could have been better, I think there are too many scenes that look like stand-alone episodes, especially with the time jumps going on. The intensity of the couple's problems, or perhaps everything about their marriage, doesn't find a sounding board in its fictional society; except for Lee Remick's character's father, supporting characters come and go without ever becoming part of the bigger picture. The performances mostly overcome this oddly isolated tone, and apparently it was based on a live TV play from 1958 so I guess that explains it. While I was watching this film I was reminded of [I]Bigger Than Life[/I] (1956) starring James Mason and Barbara Rush. These actors are just as great as Lemmon & Remick but the film itself felt too much like a cautionary tale. [I]Days Of Wine And Roses[/I] doesn't avoid the downbeat narrative that the topic deserves. It features a particularly shocking scene in which Lee Remick's drunken character climbs into her father's bed and then she doesn't want to leave until he kisses her good night. The film's hightlight is Jack Lemmon's frantic search for a missing bottle of booze, and without that underlying tone of humour it would have been just melodramatic. Great stuff. [/QUOTE]

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