A Salute to Drunks - Days of Wine and Roses

Meet Joe Clay (Jack Lemon). He's a single guy working a public relations job in San Francisco. His job consists of collecting women of a looser disposition for his clients and getting tanked at their events. In other words, life is good. That is until he meets Kristen Arnesen (Lee Remick) one evening. She is a secretary of one of his accounts and doesn't drink. They go out on a few dates and he introduces her to his favorite hobbies: bars & booze. Their love flourishes, they get married and drink happily ever after. That is until the party almost comes to a screeching halt when baby comes along, but Joe is determined to keep the love alive. He reminds her of the good times when they first started seeing each other. So they get the winning team back together - him, her and a house full of alcohol. Even with a kid, they are going to do it all.

Of course, soon after this, Joe loses his job and gets so strung out he ends up in the hospital a few times (once in a straight jacket) with the DTs while Kristen get loaded and almost burns up their apartment, furniture, kid and all. Before we know it, Alcoholics Anonymous (Boo! Hiss!) shows its sanctimonious face. Joe ends up dragged into meetings by a sponsor and going sober while the wife keeps the faith and continues to party. Who doesn't like gin straight out the bottle? You've come a long way, baby.

The film does end on a upbeat note (spoiler alert) with Joe staring out the window at a blinking neon bar sign down the block as we fade to black. I was inspired enough by this story to call in sick for the rest of my work day and start drinking. This is a feel good film that inspires!