''The Lost Weekend'' is a 1945 American drama

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

directed by

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

, and starring

Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), which wo ...

and

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007). was an American actress. A star of both movies and television, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress, four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Pr ...

. It was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel about an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

writer. The film was nominated for seven

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

and won four:

Best Picture The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also shared the Grand Prix at the first

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

, making it one of only four films—the other three being '' Marty'' (1955), ''

Parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

'' (2019) and ''

Anora ''Anora'' is a 2024 American romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Sean Baker. It stars Mikey Madison as Anora "Ani" Mikheeva, a stripper from New York who marries the wealthy son of a Russian oligarch played ...

'' (2024)—to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at Cannes. On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film." In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Plot

On Thursday, alcoholic New York writer Don Birnam is packing for a weekend vacation with his brother Wick. Although they are leaving mid-afternoon, when Don's girlfriend Helen drops by with gifts for him and two tickets for a concert that afternoon, Don suggests that Wick attends with her; the brothers can then catch a later train. His motive is self-serving: he has a bottle hanging by a rope outside the window and wants to retrieve it and secure it in his suitcase. Wick eventually discovers the bottle. Don claims to have forgotten it was there; Wick pours it down the drain. Now, knowing that all the liquor Don had hidden in the apartment has been disposed of, and believing that he has no money for more, Helen and Wick go to the concert. After finding ten dollars Wick left for the cleaning lady, Don heads for Nat's Bar, calling in at a liquor store on the way to purchase two bottles of

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

. He intends to be back home in time to meet Wick and catch their train but his drinking makes him lose track of time. Arriving home, he sees Wick and Helen on the street and, concealing himself, overhears Wick say that he has given up on helping Don and is leaving, scolding Helen for deciding to stay and wait for Don. Don sneaks back into the apartment and hides a bottle while drinking the other one. On Friday, at Nat's Bar, Don learns that Helen came in looking for him the previous night. Don says that he intends to write a novel about his battle with alcoholism, called ''The Bottle''. In a flashback, he recalls how he first met Helen at the opera house. The cloakroom has mixed up their coats. Subsequently, the two strike up a romance, and he remains sober during this time. While going to meet her parents, he overhears them talking about his unemployment and how they are not certain if he is good enough for Helen. He loses his nerve and sneaks off, after phoning Helen from a booth and making a phony excuse, ostensibly intending to meet her parents later. However, he returns home and gets drunk. She goes to his apartment, where Wick tries to cover for him, but Don confesses that he is two people: "Don the writer", whose fear of failure causes him to drink, and "Don the drunk", who always has to be bailed out by Wick. Helen devotes herself to helping him. After telling Nat the story behind his proposed novel, Don heads back home to begin writing it. However, his alcohol cravings get the better of him and he begins a search for that second bottle from the previous night. He cannot remember where he hid it. He goes to a nightclub, realizes that he cannot pay the bill and steals money from a woman's purse. He is caught, thrown out, and told never to return. Once home, he finds the hidden bottle and drinks himself into a stupor. On Saturday, Don is broke and feeling sick. He decides to pawn his typewriter so he can buy more alcohol, although he dreads the walk to the shop because he feels so ill. He discovers the pawnshops are closed for

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

. Desperate for money, he visits Gloria, a prostitute who has a crush on him. She gives him some money, but he falls down her stairs and is knocked unconscious. On Sunday, Don wakes up in an alcoholics' ward at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

, where a nurse, Bim Nolan, mocks him and other guests at "Hangover Plaza". Bim offers to help offset his sure-to-come

delirium tremens Delirium tremens (DTs; ) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days. Physical effects may include shaking, sh ...

, but Don rejects the assistance and escapes while the staff is occupied with a raving, violent patient. On Monday, Don steals a bottle of whiskey from a store after threatening the owner and spends the day drinking. Suffering from delirium tremens, he hallucinates a nightmarish scene in which a bat flies in through his window and kills a mouse, spilling its blood. His screams alert a neighbour, who contacts Helen, who immediately goes over. Finding Don collapsed and in a delirious state, she assists him to clean up and get to bed; she stays overnight on his couch. On Tuesday morning, Don slips out and pawns Helen's coat, the one that had brought them together. She trails him to the pawn shop and learns from the pawnbroker that Don traded the coat for his gun, for which he has bullets at home. She races back to Don's apartment and interrupts him just as he is about to shoot himself. She pleads with him, even going so far as to beg him to drink the last portion of whisky left in the bottle he had stolen and which she had concealed. She declares she would rather he be alive as an alcoholic. He refuses and, while they are arguing, Nat arrives to return Don's typewriter. After Nat leaves, Helen finally convinces him that "Don the writer" and "Don the drunk" are the same person. He commits to writing his novel ''The Bottle'', dedicated to her, which will recount the events of the weekend. As evidence of his resolve, he drops a cigarette into the glass of whisky to make it undrinkable.

Cast

Production and notable features

Wilder was originally drawn to this material after having worked with

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

on the screenplay for ''

Double Indemnity ''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's Double Indemnity (novel), novel of the same na ...

''. Chandler was a recovering alcoholic at the time, and the stress and tumultuous relationship with Wilder during the collaboration caused him to start drinking again. Wilder made the film, in part, to try to explain Chandler to himself. Wilder originally wanted

Jose Ferrer Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean * Jose ben Halafta ...

for the role of Don, but he turned it down. Charles Brackett's first choice for playing Helen was

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...

, but she was involved with a lawsuit that prevented her from being in any film at that time. It has been said that

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...

and

Jean Arthur Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American film and theater actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Arthur had feature roles in three F ...

were also considered for the role. The majority of the film was shot at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Wilder, however, insisted they shoot part of the film on location in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to create a distinct sense of realism. On October 1, 1944, Wilder and his small crew began filming in New York, mostly along

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

in Midtown East Manhattan. To further create a realistic atmosphere, Wilder and his crew used hidden cameras, placing them behind boxes or in the back of trucks, and capturing Milland as he walked up 3rd Avenue among actual pedestrians who were unaware a film was being made. The production also had the unprecedented permission to film inside

in the alcoholic ward, a request that would be denied to future films. After completing filming in New York, the cast and crew returned to California to resume principal photography, where they recreated several New York locations, including a replica of

P. J. Clarke's P. J. Clarke's is a saloon and gastropub, established in 1884 and is one of the oldest continuously operating restaurants in NYC. It occupies a building located at 915 Third Avenue on the northeast corner of East 55th Street in Manhattan. It h ...

, a tavern often frequented by author Charles Jackson. The film also made famous the "character walking toward the camera in a daze as time passes" camera effect. Once ''The Lost Weekend'' was completed, it was shown to a preview audience, who laughed at what they considered Milland's overwrought performance, and the studio considered shelving the film. Part of the problem was that the print shown at the preview did not have

Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...

's original musical soundtrack, but instead had a temporary track containing upbeat jazz music. However, once the Rózsa score was in place, along with a re-shoot of the last scene, audiences and critics reacted favorably. The film's musical score was among the first to feature the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

, which was used to create the pathos of alcoholism. Rights to the film are currently held by

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

, which owns the pre-1950 Paramount sound feature film library via

EMKA, Ltd. EMKA Limited is a company that is owned by the Universal Television division of NBCUniversal with the sole function of overseeing the list of Paramount Pictures films (1920–1929), 1929–List of Paramount Pictures films (1940–1949), 1949 Para ...

The film differs significantly from the book by leaving out the novel's noted homosexual overtones, namely the strong implication that Don Birnam is (as was the book's author, Charles Jackson) a closeted homosexual. The liquor industry launched a campaign to undermine the film even before its release. Allied Liquor Industries, a national trade organization, wrote an open letter to Paramount warning that anti-drinking groups would use the film to reinstate prohibition. Liquor interests allegedly enlisted gangster

Frank Costello Frank Costello (; born Francesco Castiglia ; January 26, 1891 – February 18, 1973) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. Born in Italy, he moved with his family to the United States as a child. As a youth he joined N ...

to offer Paramount $5 million to buy the film's negative to burn it. Wilder quipped that if they’d offered him $5 million, "I would have urned the negative"

Reception

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...

, critic and author, wrote in '' The Nation'' 1945: "... it is unusually hard, tense, cruel, intelligent, and straightforward. But I see nothing in it that is new, sharply individual, or strongly creative. It is, rather, a skillful restatement, satisfying and easy to overrate in a time of general dereliction and fatuousness, of some sound basic commonplaces."

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

gave it four of four stars, stating: "Startlingly original on its release, this stark little drama keeps its power, especially in the scenes on New York streets and in a dipso ward. It could scarcely have been more effectively filmed."

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

wrote, "... an unusually daring popular melodrama... The picture lacks fluidity, and the slowly paced scenes seem overcalculated, with each colorful character and tense vignette standing out too sharply; everything is nailed down to a meaning for us. The whole thing is shot in imaginative resonance; what it has is the Brackett-Wilder specialty—a distinctive cruel (and sometimes cruelly funny) edge." ''

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

'' gave the film four of four stars: "Unrelenting drama of alcoholism—and a landmark of adult film-making." On

, the film holds a 97% rating based on 74 reviews. The site's consensus: "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film."

Box office performance

The film was a commercial success. Produced on a budget of $1.25 million, it grossed $11 million at the box office, earning $4.3 million in US theatrical rentals.

Academy Awards

At the

18th Academy Awards The 18th Academy Awards were held on March 7, 1946, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre to honor the films of 1945. Being the first Oscars after the end of World War II, the ceremony returned to the glamour of the prewar years; notably, the plaster ...

in March 1946, ''The Lost Weekend'' received seven nominations and won in four categories.

Cannes Film Festival

This film also shared the

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

'' Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'' at the first

and

Milland Milland is a village and civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester Districts of England, district of West Sussex, England. It is situated north of the A272 road on the border with Hampshire. In the 2001 census the parish covered an ...

was awarded Best Actor. To date, ''The Lost Weekend'', '' Marty'' (

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

), ''

'' (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

), and ''

'' (

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

) are the only films ever to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival. (''Marty'' received the ''

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

'' (Golden Palm), which, beginning at the 1955 festival, replaced the ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'' as the highest award.)

National Film Registry

In 2011, ''The Lost Weekend'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States

and selected for preservation in the

. The Registry said the film was "an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism" and that it "melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink."

Adaptations

''The Lost Weekend'' was adapted as a radio play on the January 7, 1946, broadcast of

The Screen Guild Theater ''The Screen Guild Theater'' is a radio anthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952 during the Golden Age of Radio. Leading Hollywood stars performed adaptations of popular motion pictures. Originating on CBS Radio, it aired under several d ...

, starring Milland, Wyman, and Faylen in their original film roles. On March 10, 1946, three days after winning the Academy Award, Milland appeared as a guest on a radio broadcast of ''

The Jack Benny Show ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 and 19 ...

''. In a spoof of ''The Lost Weekend'', Milland and Jack Benny played alcoholic twin brothers.

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, bandleader, entertainer and singer. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with '' The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil ...

, who normally played Jack Benny's hard-drinking bandleader on the show, played the brother who tried to convince Ray and Jack to give up liquor. ("Ladies and gentlemen," said an announcer, "the opinions expressed by Mr. Harris are written in the script and are not necessarily his own.") In the alcoholic ward scene, smart-aleck Frank Nelson played the ward attendant who promised Ray and Jack that they would soon start seeing DT visions of strange animals. When the DT visions appeared (with

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

providing pig squeals, monkey chatters, and other animal sound effects), Ray chased them off. "Ray, they're gone!", Benny shouted. "What did you do?" Milland replied, "I threw my Oscar at them!" On April 21, 1949,

Jackie Gleason Herbert John Gleason (born Herbert Walton Gleason Jr.; February 26, 1916June 24, 1987), known as Jackie Gleason, was an American comedian, actor, writer, and composer also known as "The Great One". He developed a style and characters from growin ...

, making his debut as a regular on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''The Hank Ladd Show'' (known before that date as ''

The Arrow Show ''The Arrow Show'' is an American television variety series that was broadcast on NBC November 24, 1948 - May 19, 1949. It was also known as ''The Phil Silvers Arrow Show'' and ''Arrow Comedy Theatre''. The sponsor was Arrow Shirts. Overview P ...

'', newly recast and retitled accordingly), delivered what ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' dubbed the episode's "standout segment" with his ''Lost Weekend'' spoof. Portraying the protagonist as a "five-year-old moppet who gets plastered on soft drinks," he is seen "guzzling milkshakes and cokes, weaving down Third Avenue and finally, hit by the DT's, scared witless by a Mickey Mouse."

References

Sources

* Farber, Manny. 2009. ''Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber''. Edited by

Robert Polito Robert Polito is a poet, biographer, essayist, critic, educator, curator, and arts administrator. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography in 1995 for ''Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson.'' The founding director of th ...

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

External links

* * * *
''The Lost Weekend''
film review at filmsite.org
''The Lost Weekend''
on Screen Guild Theater: January 7, 1946 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Weekend 1945 films 1945 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners Best Picture Academy Award winners 1940s English-language films Film noir Films about alcoholism Films about writers Films based on American novels Films directed by Billy Wilder Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance Films produced by Charles Brackett Films scored by Miklós Rózsa Films set in hospitals Films set in Manhattan Films set in New York City Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New York City Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award Films with screenplays by Billy Wilder Films with screenplays by Charles Brackett Palme d'Or winners Paramount Pictures films United States National Film Registry films 1940s American films