(48) The Lost Weekend

Directed by Billy Wilder
Not Rated
1945
101 minutes

*****

Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend seems to have become one of his lesser known films, despite the fact that it won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1945. This is understandable when your filmography includes classics like Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard, etc. Regardless, this absolutely deserves inclusion in the list of his greatest films. Ray Milland is captivating as Don Birnam, a failed New York writer who spends a weekend more or less drinking himself to the brink of death. It's all you can do to gape at the screen when he lets loose one of his drunken monologues to bartender Nat (Howard Da Silva, as a perfect foil to Don). A beautiful Jane Wyman as Don's girlfriend Helen is also great. This is one of the true brilliant but mostly forgotten gems of the 40s (of which there are an infinite number).