Movie Time

As you may have noticed, it's not just philosophy 24/7 here at DuckRabbit. We both like the movies: I'll watch anything except the most noxious Hollywood crap, while Rabbit has long outgrown his artsy phase and now prefers cinema in which, as the saying goes, stuff blows up real good. Kind of like Wittgenstein in that regard, if I'm not mistaken. Point to Rabbit.

Today's film is Days of Wine and Roses, from 1962. It depicts a hot threesome which ends badly (don't they all), among Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, and the Bottle. I find Jack Lemmon's shtick (with the double takes) tiresome at the best of times, and here it's downright painful to watch. I know alcoholism is no fun, but this plays like a parodic mashup of Reefer Madness (Brandy Alexander Madness?), Cruel Story of Youth, and, I don't know, Shock Corridor. Plus an AA promo spot: there's a scene where an impossibly young Jack Klugman introduces our boy at an AA meeting -- and they both give their full names. Guys! What part of AA don't you understand? (The second part, I guess.) Oscar noms for the leads, and it won for ... Best Song. (Wak!)

Another thing: the DVD cover is misleading (could that have been the promo poster??). The top picture ("From the days of wine and roses") is fine, but the bottom one ("finally comes a night like this.") is a composite of two different scenes. In the movie, this shot shows Lee Remick lurching into a room and looking over at her sleeping father on the bed; but instead of Dad, the picture on the cover shows Jack Lemmon on his belly, reaching toward the camera -- a shot lifted from the previous scene, in which he's crawling around in the greenhouse (don't ask).

Lee Remick looks great though -- wow. On this tip check out also Wild River; there's a scene with her and Montgomery Clift in the car -- they're getting gas or something -- in which she lights up a smile that must be seen to be believed.