The Lost Weekend (1945) User Reviews (190)

'I'm not a drinker, I'm a drunk.'

[Ham_and_Egger · 9/10 · 6 August 2005]

***** SPOILER IN FIFTH PARAGRAPH ***** It's hard to imagine what people must have thought upon seeing this movie in 1945, depictions of alcoholism are so prevalent in our media today that it's practically a brand name. We have serious drunks, comical drunks, pathetic drunks, and all manner of drunks in-between. In many ways we may have progressed but I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie that treats alcoholism with the honesty it gets here.

But The Lost Weekend isn't just a message movie, it's superbly crafted as well, easily the equal of Billy Wilder's other films (Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd., Stalag 17, Sabrina, etc.). According to the production notes Wilder read the novel by Charles R. Jackson and took it upon himself to convince his producers to let him make the film, knowing it would be a hit and win the leading man an Oscar. That's vision coupled with uncanny film-making skill.

Ray Milland never gave a finer performance, the progression of his character throughout the movie is extraordinary and a lesser actor simply wouldn't have been able to pull it off. I doubt he was Hollywood's first alcoholic would-be writer, but he certainly raised the bar for the many who'd follow in his footsteps. He never once resorts to stereotypical "drunk" stock-character. His eye movements and high-flown, self-delusional, speeches alone make the film worth watching.

While this film is imminently deserving of the four major Oscars it scooped up (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor) it didn't win for Best Cinematography, which is a shame. John F. Seitz's black-and-white cinematography is a visual feast. Seitz was nominated for the Oscar seven times between 1930 and 1955 (including four Wilder pictures) but regrettably never won. In all he was the principal cinematographer for 159 films, including such other classics such as: Sullivan's Travels, This Gun for Hire, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The Big Clock, Night Has A Thousand Eyes, and When Worlds Collide.

***** DANGER! SPOILER AHEAD! ***** I'm not nearly so optimistic about Don's recovery as most other reviewers seem to be. Overtly the the Hollywood ending is all there; Don drops a cigarette into a glass of whiskey, he and Helen have the big kiss, he sits down to finally crank out his big book. Call it pessimism but I think it's all tied up so neatly that it can't help but unravel for him five minutes after the cameras leave. I see plenty of potential for more weekends just like this one, and I think that's the way Wilder wanted it.

This is on my list of 50 best of all time....

[wisewebwoman · 9/10 · 28 December 2003]

The script and score are superb and the acting flawless. Ray Milland is riveting in the role of a man who is as consumed by alcohol as it is consuming him. He lives and breathes for it and all around him become secondary including his long suffering girlfriend.

There is always a girl like this in the life of a good looking useless purposeless alcoholic kept afloat by either a wife or other family member, in this case a brother who pays the bills and tries to sober him up and dry him out periodically.

The score is relentless and highly avant Gard for its time, featuring music normally backing sci-fi flicks. Some of the scenes are profoundly frightening, his stay in the drunk tank with a sadistic feminine male nurse outlining all the horrors that await him and his DTs which feature a bat biting the head off a bird.

Very well done. I felt the ending was a little too pat, that would be my only fault with this.

9 out of 10. Excellent.

Feeling thirsty? Then have a cup of tea.

[29055 · 9/10 · 4 January 1999]

Seedy bars, pawnshops, and an array of elaborate hiding places are the overriding images from this film. The Lost Weekend is a grimly realistic account of four days in the life of a chronic alcoholic, played by Ray Milland. In films of this quality one always takes away unforgettable images. The most striking is Milland's drunken efforts to remember where in his apartment the last hiding place he used is. Degraded and thoroughly beaten by his addiction, his last refuge is to try and keep it a secret from those who still love him. Billy Wilder's direction and script is brilliant - sympathetic, but unpatronising in his handling of a delicate and rarely dealt with affliction. Not until Nicolas Cage's portrayal of a man determined to drink himself to death in Leaving Las Vegas, has alcoholism been dealt with so well. Milland's performance is first rate - no hammy shlurring of words - and the atmosphere is dark and seedy like the bars he frequents. The scene where he spends several hours trying to find an open pawnshop on a public holiday is both harrowing and dazzling - it is remeniscent of the filmic image of a parched man trying to cross the desert.

Sad end to the life of author Charles Jackson (The Lost Weekend)

[gene-perr · 20 August 2006]

In 1968, I was just 22 years old and driving a taxi part-time in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. One day, I drove Charles Jackson (author of "The Lost Weekend") from Englewood Cliffs, NJ to a run-down hotel in Times Square, New York City. I had seen and really liked the movie of the same name, starring Ray Milland, who did a wonderful job portraying an alcoholic on a weekend binge. The film was so realistic, I had a strong feeling that Charles Jackson had written the book based on his own life. I got up the nerve to ask him, and he told me that....yes, he indeed was the alcoholic portrayed in his book. We talked quite a bit about his life on the way into Times Square. He seemed like a very nice person, although he seemed quite depressed. However, it still came as quite a shock when, shortly after having him in my cab, I read in the papers that he had hung himself in his hotel room in NYC. That's an experience I will never forget!

Days of wine and Four Roses

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 20 January 2005]

The American cinema can count itself lucky with the wave of arrival of the best European talent in the days prior to World War II. Among the most distinguished directors that came to Hollywood was Billy Wilder who left a legacy, not only as a director, but in the many screen plays he wrote. One of his great works was "The Lost Week-end". Written with Charles Brackett, one of his most frequent collaborators, this is a film that dared to talk about a thing that no one dared to speak before: alcoholism.

If you haven't seen the film, please stop reading now.

On the opening scene of the picture we watch Don Birman, and his brother Wick packing suitcases for a long weekend in the country. We realize not everything is all right as we watch a bottle tied with a piece of string hanging out of a window. It's clear to see what was wrong with that picture, Don is an alcoholic! Wick, having enough common sense, wants to keep his brother near him, in order to control the situation.

Things get complicated with the arrival of Helen, the woman in love with Don. Helen St. James has been in a relationship with Don that has gone nowhere because of his drinking problem. Helen, as well as Wick, don't have the courage to have him committed to have him cured of his addiction. In fact, both are to blame about the condition affecting Don, but neither realize how deep is the problem.

In 1945 themes involving addiction were never told to the movie going public. Alcoholism was a vice that affected a lot of people in the country, but those were the days where people with drinking problems stayed in the closet, not daring to recognize how their lives were being ruined by the heavy use of alcohol.

We watch in horror as Don spends a weekend in hell going from one scheme to the next trying to get money to support his nasty habit. We also see Don Birman experience the worst night of his life when he is taken to a hospital, after falling down from a staircase. There, he sees first hand the horrors his addictions will bring to him. In a way, the exposure to the men in the hospital is a wake up call for Don, who decides to end it all because drinking has taken over his life. The movie should be seen by anyone suffering from this terrible social disease.

Ray Milland transforms himself into this troubled man. He gives an incredible performance. Mr. Milland has to be given credit in undertaking the portrayal of this lost soul in such a convincing fashion. By Hollywood standards, Ray Milland, an actor better known for his work in comedies, transforms himself into this Don Birman.

The supporting cast was excellent as well. Jane Wyman as Helen St. James is seen in one of her better roles of her career. Phillip Terry, as Wick, the kind brother is also good. Howard DaSilva, the bartender Nat, makes an impressive appearance in the film. Doris Dowling, as Gloria the friendly prostitute is equally effective.

Of course, this is a movie that shows Billy Wilder at his best. By filming on location in Manhattan, a rich texture is added. From Nat's bar we can watch the trams that circulated on Third Ave. at that time, as well as the 3rd. Av. El. The excellent black and white cinematography of John Seitz looks as good today, as it must have looked in 1945, when the film was released. The music score by the great Milos Rozsa is haunting without being too obvious.

This is, without a doubt, one of Billy Wilder's best movies, one that endures the passing of time. Mr. Wilder dared to speak out loud about something no one wanted to talk about.

Effective, Sobering Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 23 December 2005]

This was a very sobering story, pun somewhat intended but not to make light of a serious problem. Stories about alcoholism can be really depressing but I found this simply a fascinating account of what an alcoholic goes through. I doubt if any film since this as been as effective in telling its sordid story, but not in a sordid manner.

The acting is excellent, led by Ray Milland's performance and complemented by memorable supporting turns by Howard da Silva, Doris Dowling, Frank Faylen, Phillip Terry and Jane Wyman.

I particularly enjoyed the characters played by Faylen, da Silva and Dowling. Faylen had only one scene, but it's a beauty. As a hospital aide, he gives Milland a short but riveting speech that still haunts me when I recall it. Dowling served up some great film noir-type dialog and was a sexy woman, at least in this picture, and da Silva was perfect as the bartender.

This is an involving story and has a few spots with some good cinematography, too. Another plus is the fact that it doesn't appear dated even though it is 60 years old. How many films can say that? The only flaw, I thought, was the ending. Anyone has hooked on booze to the degree Milland was in this film, would not be able to just quit like that....but happy-ending movies are usually what work.

Speaking of happy, what man wouldn't want a woman as loyal and supportive as Wyman's character was in here? In an age in which commitment and loyalty are not considered valuable character traits as they used to be, she was inspiring to watch

I hope this film's reputation encourages a few people who need to see and hear this message, to take a look. They don't have to worry about a boring, heavy- handed message. This is just plain interesting and always entertaining. It earned all the awards it received.

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation."

[ackstasis · 8/10 · 24 January 2008]

With every glass of whisky that Don Birnam drinks, a little part of him dies. This ever-expanding rift in his soul only increases his thirst, as though only through alcohol can he recover the parts of himself that he abandoned a long time ago. Drinking is his means of escaping reality, of creating a debilitating illusion of happiness and satisfaction; "it tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary. I'm competent. I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones…" Similarly, Ray Milland's portrayal of a chronic alcoholic, in Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning 'The Lost Weekend (1945),' is one of the great performances of its era, and the film itself is one five-day-long nightmare of obsession and desperation. Prior to 1945, Hollywood had shied away from confronting alcohol addiction in a serious light, more content with exploiting the issue for comedic effect {take Nick Charles of 'The Thin Man' series, for example, or any movie featuring the stereotypical, clumsy and amusing drunkard}. It took a promising newcomer in Billy Wilder {fresh from the classic film-noir 'Double Indemnity (1944)} to finally bring alcoholism into the open for all to see.

'The Lost Weekend' was adapted {by Wilder and Charles Brackett} from Charles R. Jackson's novel of the same name, itself a rather daring and provocative piece of literature. The film follows alcoholic Don Birnam throughout a torturous five-day long weekend, as he futilely battles his addiction to the bottle and suffers the consequences of his excessive drinking. The film borrows a thing or two from German Expressionism, and much of the film has a peculiar, dream-like atmosphere to it, accentuated by stark lighting and shadows, beautifully shot by cinematographer John F. Seitz. This hazy, otherworldly ambiance is further emphasised by the inspired decision to film some scenes through glass liquor bottles, and Miklós Rózsa's eerie soundtrack, which made extensive use of the oscillating wail of the theremin {nowadays mostly associated with films dealing with extraterrestrials and UFOs}. One particular hallucinatory sequence, featuring a mouse and a bat, has undoubtedly left its mark on all who watch the film, and Birnam's frenzied scream of absolute horror will continue to resonate in your eardrums long after it's all over.

Along with Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining (1980)' and the Coen Brothers' 'Barton Fink (1991),' 'The Lost Weekend' is probably the most disturbing film about writer's block that I've seen, a genuinely unsettling profile of a troubled and mentally-ill man. The film doesn't merely present us with Don Birnam, but takes us into his world, where slipping your fingers around that next shot of whisky is a matter of life or death. Though the Production Code forced Wilder to supply a more optimistic ending than I think he would have liked, he nonetheless manages to slip some ambiguity into the final moments, and, on second look, the conclusion isn't perhaps as hopeful as we might initially have presumed. In an earlier scene, Birnam refers to his alcohol addiction as "my little vicious circle… no end, no beginning." Indeed, throughout the weekend, he experiences a continuous sequence of cycles, circulating between debilitating drunkenness, an attempt at recovery and a frantic search for more alcohol. The film opens with a left-to-right slow pan from the New York cityscape to Birnam's apartment; it closes with an identical pan in the opposite direction. Despite his apparent resolve to finally emerge from his rut and complete "The Bottle," it appears that Birnam is simply trapped in a vicious cycle from which he may never escape, except perhaps in death.

Textbook drama about addiction powerfully told...

[Don-102 · 10/10 · 2 March 1999]

From the first shot of a bottle hanging from a drunk's apartment, we realize we are about to see a clever addict and a weekend of his demented exploits. Ray Milland has an honest face, not unlike Jimmy Stewart's, however, with this character it is only skin-deep. The great thing about his performance and the film as a whole, is that his face will gradually change, becoming dark and chilly, just like Stewart's in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Stewart had lost his life momentarily. Milland has lost his soul to the bottle and he will stop at nothing to quench his thirst.

This really is a textbook example of the alcoholic's lies and schemes, a precursor to LEAVING LAS VEGAS, although there are people in this film who care about the drinker from the beginning. He just can't stop and we start to lose whatever sympathy we had for him because of how he treats other people. This is a drunk with a sober man wanting to come out, but Wilder's script dives deeply into the unpredictable outcomes of most alcoholics.

LOST WEEKEND was innovative and was almost never released because test audiences could not take the film's realism. The hospital sequence retains its horror, and Milland's withdrawal-induced hallucination of a rat in the wall was like him looking in the mirror. See this movie and you will come away with a completely informed and scary anthology of the antics of a hopeless alcoholic. This is amazing considering it came out of the old Hollywood system.

groundbreaking in its day, hopelessly inaccurate now

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 14 July 2005]

Up until The Lost Weekend, alcoholism was seldom seriously addressed by Hollywood. So, in that sense, it is an important groundbreaking film. Also, unlike past portrayals of drinking (such as W. C. Fields) in films, this is much more realistic and gritty--particularly when they show people in the hospital going through the agonies of withdrawal. This is the BEST aspect of the movie, along with all the broken promises and games Milland plays with those around him.

Unfortunately, the movie HAD to slap a pat ending on the film, as movies seldom were allowed to end on a sour or indefinite note in the 1940s. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE cinema of the 1940s (far more than recent movies), but this was one serious shortcoming films of that era had--the Hollywood ending even when it was not realistic or sometimes compromised the integrity of the film (as in this case). Milland, after a long weekend bender, announces he's now "got it licked" and everything is peachy! Give me a break--this sure sounds like the phony self-serving thinking I so often encountered when I worked with addicts in a substance abuse program!! This is only the first step in a long, difficult road to recovery.

For an even better film about alcoholism, try Days of Wine and Roses.

If you've experienced addiction, you know this movie's true

[panquin · 10/10 · 13 April 2006]

From the very first shot of a bottle dangling from a window, to the last shots of a (hallucinated) bat eating a mouse (with accompanying blood running down the wall, one of the most gruesome and horrifying things I've ever seen on film, and we're talking 1945 here!), TLW is as dark as it gets - and, happily, as smart as it gets, too. But this IS a Billy Wilder film, so dark/smart, though appreciated, aren't that much of a surprise.

This is one of those beautiful movies where everything makes sense, from the Academy Awards it received to the well-deserved mantle it rests upon in movie history. And it's not pretty, not in the slightest, dealing as it does in alcoholism's terrifying DTs, as well as basic addiction's I-can't-shake-you-I-can-only-think-of-you whiskey/heroin/cocaine/cigarettes (merely plug the drug of choice into the movie's template and you have flaming, righteous addict's Hell for your spellbound perusal).

I was fascinated by the fact that TLW operates as a kind of corrective to the typical 20s, 30s and 40s depiction of alcohol as social lubricant - you know, "Hey, how's it going, glad you could come by, want a drink?" And that could be at noon, 3 in the afternoon, whenever...sometimes, even the morning. TLW grabs you by throat and drags you through the gutter with Ray Milland, stooping to the lowest human levels imaginable to wet his lips and come alive - and it's there, in the fleshing-out of the addict's "coming alive, feeling great" post-drug-use bliss-begotten rush, that TLW really gets it, and I say that as someone who knows. The detail of Milland being a writer who doesn't write, and who can't even THINK of writing before liquor's in his system, is spot-on, absolutely true. It truly gives the lie to the romantic ideal of, say, Raymond Chandler, or the myth of the alcoholic writer in general. Many, many, many writers have shriveled their livers via Milland's character's route, and the fact they may have been more prolific and functional doesn't really matter, once said livers are analyzed...really, pretty sad.

See this movie. Own it. It's crucial.

fine movie up to a point

[gscheyd · 7/10 · 14 June 2006]

Ray Milland plays a very suave drunk in this classic film. The portrayal of alcoholism is simultaneously exaggerated and sanitized, as seems typical for films made under the Hollywood production code, but this is nonetheless a genuinely good movie. It is told out of sequence, and Wilder does a good job mixing plot elements chronologically to slowly reveal to us the nature and history of the relationship between the male and female leads. The flashback to their meeting and courtship period takes us to a period before things got so bad for our character and then shows us just how things got quite so muddled. Yes, the same general comment can be made of many flashback sequences, but this one has a special charm. It reminds me of another famous flashback sequence; I hope I am not being too bold in saying that it foreshadows the Deniro scenes in The Godfather Part II. The big problem with Lost Weekend is the ending, which is weak enough to substantially undermine the overall quality of the movie. The effect is what we would get from a deus ex machina, but Wilder doesn't even give us the satisfaction of showing the machine. Movie goes roughly like this: character is drunk and depressed or hungover and depressed and his life is falling apart; in the final 60 seconds he turns his life around because, well, just because it finally seems like a good idea. Unsatisfying to say the least. Still, the bulk of the movie is quite enjoyable, and ultimately I was happy for our protagonist, scoundrel though he was, even as I was disappointed in the final pages of the script.

The first great film on alcoholism.

[Huron · 9/10 · 9 January 1999]

As a recovering alcoholic (14 years sober) this remains as the first great film dealing with alcoholism. Ray Milland"s great performance shows realistically the insanity of drinking and the struggles. The promises and hidden bottles will ring true to anyone who has dealt with the problem. Billy Wilder's career was noted for his comedies but he showed in "Lost Weekend" that he knew how to deal with serious matter as well. The ending shot is a classic and will be memorable for anyone seeing the film. Check out "Days of Wine & Roses" as well.

... and the weekend stretches on into days, weeks, years...

[Howlin Wolf · 6/10 · 19 April 2007]

"The Lost Weekend" is obviously a reference to what can happen to the confirmed alcoholic when they feel compelled by their bodies to embark on the mother of all benders. As this is an addiction - or a disease, however you prefer to label it - gaps in time tend to occur quite frequently. The drunk will not remember nor care about the depths they have sunk to, but Wilder the dispassionate observer is able to capture all of the squalor on film for his audience.

Cravings and detox afford the potential for some memorable scenes which have a definite 'nightmarish' quality about them, as when he hallucinates, or desperately tries to hawk his possessions for money to buy booze. The acting is good enough to mostly elicit concern from we the viewer. Its only real flaw from my perspective was that, being one of the first to address such a stigmatized issue, at times the story seemed to be more about the illness than the character - a problem which had lessened considerably by the time we got to treatments such as "Leaving Las Vegas", for example. Still, it's worth a look if you want to see an early film that genuinely tries to be daring and different, or if you're searching for proper hard evidence that Billy Wilder was capable of producing an awful lot more than just fluffy screwball comedies.

Deeply dissatisfying melodrama with a predictable arc

[mosheq · 4/10 · 1 July 2006]

I followed the line of good reviews and a high IMDb rating to this flick and feel I've been misled by the readership here. This story about one alcoholic's weekend binge merits a few props as it touches on the psychology of an ambitious would-be writer who never was. However, the core of this character study is marred fatally by overwrought dialogue, half-baked character development, a bland story arc, and a melodramatic Theramin-saturated score that would have fit more comfortably in a sci-fi shocker about nuclear swamp mutants than a closely studied psychological drama. The film shines most as the protagonist's brother, played subtly and richly by Phillip Terry, appears alternately as a care-taker either fed up and through with it all or empathetic enough to lie valiantly in order to cover up his brother's shame. Unfortunately, this performance gets little screen time. For the most part we are forced to trudge through a miserable weekend with our protagonist as if it were a rote lesson in "Alcoholism and its Downward Spiral 101." To cap it all off, we get in the end a reversal as facile, unconvincing, and dissatisfying as Tofurkey for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Powerful landmark film on alcoholism has lost none of its status...Ray Milland deserved his Oscar...

[Doylenf · 16 April 2001]

I take exception to previous comments that call the film "daring for its time" or "dated". It's still a very powerful film and there is nothing dated about the theme of a man who loses his soul to the bottle. It was a landmark film in its time and still is--there is no question about its holding power and the excellence of writing, acting and direction. Yes, even by today's standards! It outclasses more recent films dealing with alcoholism as it focuses on one man's problem with the bottle--a problem that affects all of the people whose lives he touches--particularly his loyal girlfriend (Jane Wyman in one of her best roles) and Philip Terry as his more conventional brother. The emotions are stark and real. The pity we feel for Milland's character is also mixed with disgust for his weakness. It's an accurate depiction of an alcoholic's struggle for the next fix--a never ending search for the next bottle. The pseudo-babble of a previous commentator attempts to inject disdain for the film as outdated and outclassed by more serious works. Nonsense! This was a stark and powerful film in 1945 and I have news for you--it is just as powerful and timely today! No other American film comes close to it. It is as searing an indictment of alcoholism as you are ever likely to see and Milland fully deserved his Oscar.

For some reason I can watch this film over and over...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 26 September 2015]

... and not get tired of it. Ray Milland's performance is riveting and, if you are watching for the first time, the first scene will do nothing but raise questions, getting you involved. How did Don (Ray Milland) get to be such an alcoholic? Why does his brother have a right to say how he lives? What does he do for a living? Why does such a seemingly together woman like Helen (Jane Wyman) stay with this guy for three years? All of these questions get answered slowly as the movie unravels over one long weekend that Don was supposed to spend in the country with his brother, but instead spends alone, but thanks to ten dollars that Don's brother left behind, he does not spend it completely alone - he's got money to buy booze.

And yet Don doesn't plan ahead. He thinks enough to cover up the two bottles he buys at the liquor store with some apples that he buys to put up on top of the bag as he walks home so neighbors cannot see the booze, but the urgency doesn't come until he is completely out of liquor and out of the ten bucks to get more. And he is willing to do ANYTHING to get that liquor - he'll pretend to be interested in a girl in a local bar who is obviously crazy about him in order to get a few bucks, he tries to trade his typewriter (he's a failed writer) to a local bar owner for a drink, he steals money from a woman's purse in a nightclub to get booze, he even stages a faux hold-up (he has no gun) to get a bottle from a liquor store.

And that's it for the entire movie - Don Birnham and his quest for the next bottle eats all of his time and energy. Other characters are just instruments in that quest or are in the form of flashbacks to tell you how Don got to where he was in the first scene. And then there's that haunting score that runs the length of the film. Everything is brutal realism UNTIL the last scene. Maybe it was the censors, but today it could have cost the film some Oscars.

A couple of questions never raised. How did Don's brother Wick manage to support himself AND Don all of these years IN New York City? Didn't Wick ever long for a life and family of his own? There's got to be a limit to anybody's patience and charity, even if they are kin. Another question from an old film buff like me - Isn't it odd how the Great Depression and World War II magically disappear from sight in the past that Don is recollecting. 15 years of American history that effected everybody seems to have no place in Don's story. To look at this film, this shiny bustling post-war world has always been there. This is the turn of film from Depression and world war - collective struggles - back to the struggle of the individual with himself, the beginning of noir.

Once Upon A Time There Was A Bat And A Mouse

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 29 July 2006]

The Lost Weekend for 1945 was a pretty grim and realistic look at the problem of alcoholism. We've seen some pretty good films since like I'll Cry Tomorrow right up to Barfly, but The Lost Weekend still has the power to hold the audiences attention 61 years after it came out.

It was a breakthrough film for its star Ray Milland. Previously someone who had done light leading man roles, Milland plumbed some real hidden demons in the role of Don Birnam. A guy much like the characters Ray Milland played on screen, Birnam is a charming fellow and would be writer who can't leave the alcohol alone.

Billy Wilder was going to originally cast an unknown character actor in the lead role. However Paramount producer Buddy DeSylva said that in this part you wanted a likable leading man so the audiences had a rooting interest. Wilder who usually did not suffer interference from the front office with any grace, took DeSylva's advice and got Ray Milland with whom he'd worked with in The Major and the Minor.

Milland prepared for this part by spending a couple of nights in an alcoholic ward. Certainly showed in his performance. You will not forget Milland and his reaction to seeing the bat and the mouse while in delirium tremors.

Jane Wyman was Wilder's third choice after not getting Katharine Hepburn or Jean Arthur. She came over to Paramount from Warner Brothers on a loan out and got her first really good notices for a serious acting role as Milland's long suffering girl friend.

A recent biography of Billy Wilder said that The Lost Weekend was timed perfectly for an audience that swelled up with returning servicemen some of whom developed alcoholic problems after being through the horror of a World War. After being panned in previews with a little editing it opened to rave reviews on release.

It did good at the box office too and it won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor for Milland, Best Screenplay for Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett and Best Director for Wilder. After this triumph Wilder and Brackett both had their pick of good film properties.

I'm surprised that someone like Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino has never tried to remake this one. Seems like just the kind of film for them.

Milland's character is a writer and a key sequence is when he attempts to pawn his typewriter for a bottle of booze. Can you imagine doing that today with a laptop computer which is not only the tool he uses, but also has a memory of all the attempts the protagonist has made to write.

Might even be more powerful today.

The Insanities of an Alcoholic Writer in a Weekend in 1945

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 28 July 2003]

Don Birnam (Ray Milland, in an outstanding performance) is an alcoholic writer spending a weekend in New York without the presence of his controller brother Wick Birnam (Phillip Terry) and escaping from his fiancée Helen St. James (Jane Wyman). This Billy Wilder's movie is a great and touching movie, since the first long distance shot of New York approaching Don Birnam 's room (and the Rye whiskey bottle hanging on the window) to the end of the plot. Wonderful performance of an inspired cast, marvelous black & white photography, a fantastic direction and screenplay makes this movie a masterpiece. Even the moralist end is acceptable for such an excellent movie. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Farrapo Humano" ("Human Rag")

more than just a simple "message" movie, Wilder tries to make addiction as human a crisis as possible

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 25 October 2005]

Although in some respects some of the conditions and dialog from the Lost Weekend have become dated, the performances and the ideas behind it- plus the heightened style of it- make it work many years down the line. Oscar winning director Billy Wilder makes Don Birnem's struggle something that is unmistakable, especially if you've been around these kinds of people. Most of us have seen the drunk at the end of the bar with grandiose ideas and romanticized visions amid that need (nevermind enjoyment) of the booze. But the film is successful if only because it makes this obsession with the flailing writer Don as his major internal conflict, and that it goes deeper to something that is in many of us, even if we don't drink.

Basically, Don wants to get off alcohol so he can write his great book. Despite some advice from the "friendly enemy" (as I would call one) local bartender, and the girl Gloria, there is little hope for him it seems. He goes on a four-day bender, looking frantically all over the apartment when it's not in easy reach. This all leads up to going clean, which involves a truly paranoid-filmed sequence by Wilder (one of his very best).

It is almost all harrowing drama, and only in the minute moments when Don is completely unsympathetic does the film lose some of its momentum. But really, the film is as much about the psychology of this man, of the writer in desperation (though never wanting to admit it), and Ray Milland's performance (at least for the time) was daring enough to show as much as could be shown at the time. The film probes just enough into the subject matter to not become very preachy (I don't think Wilder's message is to never drink ever as much as one of keeping control of one's life and system), and at the core is just entertaining drama.

one of the darkest classic films

[framptonhollis · 7/10 · 7 March 2017]

Despite its age, message, and subject matter, "The Lost Weekend" never delves into cheesy, laughable PSA territory and, instead, contains a most impressive and powerful sense of realism. As a matter of fact, it doesn't feel like this film has aged a day since its 1945 release; it was a genuinely powerful film then, and is a genuinely powerful film now!

I have heard some people label this film as "silly" and "dated", but I simply cannot understand these claims. "Reefer Madness" is certainly ridiculous, filled with obvious propaganda and straight up lies; but no lies are to be found in this earth shatteringly strong tale of a man's tragic downfall (although it does have a hopeful ending, which is executed in a way that it doesn't feel at all forced or unrealistic).

While Billy Wilder is most known for his comedies, he was also a master of drama in his earlier career. Films like "Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Blvd" are two films that are primarily dramatic (although "Sunset Blvd" does have its darkly hilarious moments throughout, which makes me consider it to be a drama first and a black comedy second), but are also among Wilder's most well known. With "The Lost Weekend", Wilder may have crafted his darkest film. It is a story of addiction that is told nearly as powerfully as the infamously shocking and graphic masterpiece "Requiem for a Dream". However, this film is even better, for it managed to get that same impact while having been made years upon years ago; a time when some might say that cinema hadn't fully "matured", at least not mainstream Hollywood).

I must also note the brilliance of this film on a technical level. For the most part, the performances are somewhat standard, 40's performances, but Ray Milland is different. His performance is still smashingly powerful today and he is able to showcase this downfall with perfection. It is also wonderfully directed and shot. Wilder's lens turns this classic tragedy into a film noir, with sharp, black and white cinematography and an ever-present sense of doom. I was also impressed at how Wilder lets visuals tell the story a lot of the time, rather than words; which provides me with yet another example of how ahead of its time this film truly is. And, last but certainly not least, the score by Miklós Rózsa is indescribably brilliant. The soundtrack flat out adds another layer of horror and emotion.

A quality film on every level, "The Lost Weekend" manages to remain strong and realistic today; never seeming silly or dated.

One of the great ones - dark, depressing, bleak, uncompromising and an important statement on alcoholism.

[MovieAddict2016 · 9/10 · 22 September 2005]

I can't imagine how this got greenlit back in 1945. It's almost impossible to imagine a film like this being made back then - the era where women weren't allowed to have their dresses crease around their buttocks and "show the shape of their behinds" (as Carl Reiner put it on commentary for the Dick Van Dyke show).

Seen sixty (!) years later, it still holds up amazingly well. A great deal of films from the 1940s and '50s seem outdated today, but the issue of alcoholism will probably never die... and as long as it exists, this movie will remain prescient.

Ray Milland delivers a powerful performance as Don Birnem, a recovering alcoholic whose girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman) and brother Wick (Phillip Terry) have planned a weekend getaway to the country, to take his mind off the booze.

Don makes up an excuse not to go - he says he wants to be alone. His brother is suspicious of his decision, but nevertheless leaves without him. After the two leave, Don pulls a bottle of alcohol through his window, which was tied to a string by the window sill, hidden from view outside the apartment.

Don makes his daily visit to the bar where Nat (Da Silva) the Bartender serves his drinks. The more he drinks, the more Don spirals downwards into a hellish nightmare, complete with flashbacks to his past where he is reminded of the destructive patterns of his addiction.

I bought this movie a few months ago out of curiosity, mainly because I saw it had been directed by Billy Wilder. Wilder is most commonly known for his comedies like "The Apartment" and "Some Like It Hot," but here he shows he has a great eye for drama.

This is a superb film on all levels. The themes are gripping and important, the acting is totally uncompromising and the direction is top notch. I'd say it's one of the best and most underrated films of the 1940s; I had personally never heard of it before... I'm glad I stumbled across it.

Proving that booze isn't always fun

[NellsFlickers · 7/10 · 2 March 2022]

Being a teetotaler, I appreciate anything that shows excessive drinking for what it can really become. This aside, Weekend is a good movie overall, though for my taste Milland at some times says his lines slightly too fast and hammy (especially when in the bar explaining his drinking to the bartender). But all in all a well made film, obviously! I actually knew the film from Milland's appearance on the Jack Benny radio show after winning his Oscar, before seeing the actual movie itself. If you want a good laugh, look for it on any OTR website who offers free shows.

Delirium is a disease that only comes at night.,

[hitchcockthelegend · 10/10 · 4 March 2008]

Don Birnham is not a drinker, he is in fact a drunk, he is left alone for the weekend by those who love him under the proviso that he gets stuck into his writing, thus the hope is that he stays away from the booze that is killing his life and the loving foundation that his life is built upon.

Billy Wilder directs this with brilliant hands, he pulls his first masterstroke by casting Ray Milland in the lead role of Don Birnham, at the time Milland was better known for light and airy roles, so for audiences of the time it was quite something to see someone so normally affable descend into a real dark shadow of their perceived persona. It was a formula that "Blake Edwards" would repeat some 17 years later with "Days Of Wine And Roses", there, comedy great "Jack Lemmon" would wow the viewers with his own descent into alcoholic hell.

It's no different here in 1945, Milland (and Wilder) drag us into an airy, almost jaunty first reel, and the foundation is set here for us to firmly stand by Don as he spirals through a series of nightmares that is acted with genuine skill by the leading man. The journey has us rapidly trying to hock a typewriter - if only we could just find a pawnbrokers open. We will beg in touchingly heart breaking fashion for a drink from the trusted barkeep, we will find ourselves in a dry out ward where the night terrors take over, we will be terrified by the delirium as sobriety threatens to unhinge this vile addiction...

We will be part of this film because of the simple magnetic qualities that draws you in. It's not just Milland's realistic show, Wilder the crafty sod uses deep focus to emphasise anything that will steer us to the demon drink, be it escalating water rings as each shot of Rye is consumed, or camera shots through the bottles themselves, Wilder doesn't let up with knowing reminders of the core subject. The score is just terrific, Miklos Roza scores it to perfection because the music leads you into a swirling nightmare as Don's functional mind gives way to the haven of numbness, in short, the tech work on the film is tops.

The back story to this now revered masterpiece is somewhat hilarious, Paramount didn't want to release the film after temperance groups protested that the film championed drinking (LOL). One strong arm group even offered 5 Million Dollars to have the film's negative destroyed, Wilder stood by his guns and thankfully the movie watching world still has a dark and poignant classic to view with resonance in any decade. 10/10

A powerful cry against addiction in all its forms.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 7/10 · 17 April 2018]

'The Lost Weekend (1941)' wraps itself up a little too quickly to be entirely convincing, though the promises made in the finale could be just as empty as those made in the opening (making the ending much darker than it appears to be), and there is the occasional lull in pace marked by a repetition indicative of the alcoholism of the protagonist, but it's a daring and generally powerful cry against addiction in all its forms compounded by some excellent writing and performances (especially the Oscar-winning turn from Ray Milland) that really get into the psychology of the characters. 7/10

Worst "Best Picture" Ever?

[Doug-112 · 3/10 · 9 May 2003]

I love Billy Wilder and it pains me to write this, but here it goes: "The Lost Weekend" is, in my opinion, the worst Oscar-winning "Best Picture" I've seen, and I've seen all but about five. It is proof positive that Academy Award voters were as misguided in 1946 as they have been in the past decade with such embarrassing choices as "Gladiator," "Braveheart," and "A Beautiful Mind." "Mildred Pierce," another Oscar nominee in '46, also is dated, but it is well-written, compelling entertainment. I am sure that in 1945, "The Lost Weekend" seemed very daring and gritty. But today it just seems dated. Indeed, as I placed the DVD back in the case, I searched on the floor for mothballs that I figured fell out of the packaging in my haste to get the DVD into the player. "The Lost Weekend" is like a not-so-good high school play circa 1945. The acting is laughably overwrought. Jane Wyman's role as Helen "Oh-I-Love-Him-So" St. James needs a bottle, too: Over her noggin to pound an iota of sense into her head. And the music...?! I hate to be repetitive, but only one word springs to mind in describing Miklos Rozsa's score, and that word is "overwrought." The only two things I enjoyed about this movie was seeing the skyline and streets of Manhattan circa 1944 and hitting the "stop" button on the remote control when the credits began to roll.