BEFORE: It's been brought to my attention that I watched "The Man With the Golden Arm", a film about drug addiction, while on prescription painkillers. I was aware of this coincidence, but chose not to point it out because I'm taking them for a valid medical reason, and I'm not addicted to them. If anything I'm hyper-aware of my current reliance on them to walk comfortably, and I intend to stop taking them as soon as possible. I've still got painkillers left from the last time I had a kidney stone, and I'm afraid to travel without them, should that condition strike again while I'm away from home. Anyway, I've had much more experience with (over-)indulging in alcohol than any drugs.
Linking from "The Man With the Golden Arm", Frank Sinatra was also in "High Society" with Grace Kelly, who was also in "Dial M For Murder" with Ray Milland.
THE PLOT: The desperate life of Don Birnam, a chronic alcoholic, is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Days of Wine and Roses" (Movie #1,048)
AFTER: This was another film that portrayed the consequences of addiction, without really getting into the reasons for the condition. Does it matter? (Well, yeah, kinda.) The guy's a drunk, that's that, and we see how it affects the relationship with his brother, his girlfriend, his, umm, other sort-of girlfriend, and his would-be writing career. Oh, he's started plenty of novels, plus short stories, a one-act play - he just has trouble finishing them. Something about staring at that blank page sends him looking for a drink, you know, just to get the creative juices flowing. Then one drink turns into two, which turns into the whole bottle, and there goes any notion of getting a chapter finished today.
The weird thing is, when he's drinking at the bar, he's full of great ideas (or maybe they just sound better after a few belts) and he's full of energy, holding court and quoting great writers. Maybe what he needed to do was bring a tape recorder or dictation machine with him, get drunk and have some cool ideas, then get them down on paper in the morning.
(I wasn't sure if the events in the flashback sequence really happened, or formed the basis of Birnam's eventual novel. Perhaps both? But I really hate when a character is a writer, and decides to write about his life, and then maybe that book will become the film that you're watching RIGHT NOW! It's a narrative cop-out, a non-ending.)
But I suppose that plan wouldn't work, if he keeps waking up with hangovers, or in the alcoholic ward at the hospital. Was that ever really a thing? They seemed to imply that the hospitals were full of drunk people during prohibition, but shouldn't that be AFTER prohibition? I can see there being a rise in alcoholism among soldiers returning from World War II, but not before that.
Anyway, in addition to destructive behavior, writer's block, and general mean-temperedness, for extra measure Birnam's also an unemployed failure, a surly bastard, a liar and a thief - he'll resort to whatever gets him his next drink fastest. But there are some humorous moments here - like when he goes to the opera, and is forced to watch everyone on stage at "La Traviata" drinking wine, when he's got to go without. All he can think about is the bottle he's got stashed in his raincoat, and he imagines the entire chorus turning into raincoats. That was a little weird and cartoon-like - remember all those old cartoons where a starving person on a deserted island imagined their friend turning into a giant pork chop or chicken leg?
Speaking of which, I thought the description of alcohol withdrawal here might have been exaggerated, but apparently not. Some people do get the "Delirium Tremens" and are subject to disorientation, nightmares and hallucinations. Visions of insects, snakes, rats are possible, as is the sensation of having something crawling on one's body. But the term "seeing pink elephants" is probably just a euphemism, which is traced back to a Jack London story, "John Barleycorn", and then was given a life of its own in the animated film "Dumbo".
The film does raise some questions about bars and liquor stores, and whether they have a responsibility to cut intoxicated people off, or a right to keep making money from them. Here the bartenders have all been visited by Birnam's brother and instructed not to serve him, but they do anyway, provided he has cash. While I can't justify this as a sound choice, it's the downside of living in a free-market society. I live in New York City, and our mayor has decided arbitrarily that trans-fats must be banned, smoking must be done in private seclusion, and sodas can be no larger than 12 oz., for our own protection. While well-intentioned, I think these regulations have gone too far - plus, that soda thing is ineffective, since most places offer free refills - and two 12 oz. sodas is less healthy than one 18 oz. soda.
I've sort of reached the end of a chain here - nothing really follows this, unless I want to watch "Naked Lunch", and I don't think that I do just yet. So there will be a bit of a thematic break here, and I'll start a new chain tomorrow. But in the first two weeks of 2013, I covered four Best Picture Oscar winners, including this film, so that's not too shabby.
Also starring Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Doris Dowling.
RATING: 4 out of 10 shots of rye
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